In-store ordering tool redesign
I designed journeys for 'Digital Colleague Application' (DCA), empowering store colleagues to fulfil orders and move stock efficiently. My work has enhanced DCA usability, improved stock control, helped optimise order processes, and generated substantial cost savings for B&Q and TradePoint.
The company
Kingfisher PLC (KF) is the owner of home improvement brands: B&Q, TradePoint, and Screwfix in the UK, and Castorama and Brico Dépôt stores in mainland Europe. I worked for Kingfisher from May 2022 - Oct 2024. This entry discusses the in-store ordering tool I worked on at a high level and showcase the nature of my work at KF.
The problem
To migrate order placement and management features from a legacy platform to the modern Digital Colleague Application (DCA). The goal was to create a seamless experience for B&Q and TradePoint store colleagues, minimising disruption and maximising productivity for a tool responsible for 64% of order revenue for the whole UK business. The migration was part of a cost-saving exercise for KF.
My team & role
As a Product Designer, I worked within a large, multi-disciplinary team that included a Principal Product Designer, Senior Product Designers, a User Researcher, Senior Service Designers, a Product Owner, Product Managers, a Business Analyst, and various technical leads.
Discovery: interviews and observations
To truly empathise with our colleagues, I immersed myself in their environment through extensive in-store observations and interviews, conducted alongside the Service Design and Product team. This allowed me to witness their frustrations with the legacy tool first-hand, helping to identify key pain points. You can learn more about the pain points I focussed on at the bottom of this page in the 'UI showcase' section.
Over-the-shoulder picture from observations.
Definition: from user stories to epics
My next key contribution was providing detailed screenshots and user flows of the legacy platform. This helped a Service Designer create end-to-end User Journey Maps and Service Blueprints that visualised the pain points we had discovered. These documents became a constant reference point for the team throughout the design phase. This made sure we stayed true to our user research.
With these artefacts with insights created, we held refinement sessions to collaboratively brainstorm user stories. This fostered co-creation and allowed the PO and BA to refine them into deliverables and epics. Our team adopted a design-first approach, allowing me to focus on the user experience before seeking feasibility approval. My work was centred on the 'Customer Account' deliverable (including finding/creating accounts, lists, and order history) and the entire 'Basket' deliverable (building a basket, payment, and delivery).
Service blueprint, user journey map, user stories and a refinement session screenshot.
Develop: a multi-faceted approach
Throughout the design process, my primary focus was on prioritising a user experience that was efficient, effective, and usable for our colleagues. This was achieved through multiple ideation techniques and a rigorous review process.
Ideation and prototyping
I leveraged established heuristics like Nielsen's 10 Principles and Laws of UX to build optimal user interactions, especially when data was absent. I often used rapid prototyping in Figma or sketching to envision flows and iterate quickly. For some user stories, I conducted thorough desk research to inform design decisions, and facilitated design workshops to gather diverse perspectives from the team.
Examples of workshop boards, sketches and a 'law' of UX.
Reviews and user testing
I used a three-level review process: peer reviews for usability, product team reviews for language and mental models, and Sprint Reviews for stakeholder feedback. To make these effective, I used a 'Frame, Facilitate, Finish' structure to foster a collaborative and psychologically safe environment.
User testing was also conducted with Figma prototypes to identify and prioritise issues hindering in-store customer service and colleagues experience.
I ran peer reviews, product team reviews, sprint reviews and carried out user testing.
Result
This was the most robust project I worked on during my time in the colleague side of the business, and its comprehensive, end to end user-centred process contributed significantly to shaping how design should be approached within the business. We successfully delivered the designs to B&Q, receiving overwhelmingly positive feedback from in-store colleagues and business stakeholders.
Reflections
I championed a human-centred design approach. By deeply understanding our colleagues' in-store experience, I designed solutions that truly empowered them. Simultaneously, I maintained a balance with business stakeholder needs and constraints, nimbly adapting our approach through engaging workshops. The result? A win-win for colleagues and our business.
This project was a great opportunity to hone my Figma skills. Leveraging our Design System and Figma's autolayout features, I efficiently designed numerous screens for both desktop and handsets used in our stores. This project broadened my UI design expertise and ensured a consistent, scalable UI across devices.
This project showcased my collaborative strengths, stakeholder management and influencing skills, and ability to build productive relationships. Through constructive dialogue and active listening, I navigated challenges and incorporated valuable feedback, ensuring alignment with principles and rationale.
By embracing Agile principles and effectively prioritising my workload, I delivered exceptional design solutions despite project constraints. This proactive-approach ensured efficient workflows and surpassed stakeholder expectations.
UI Showcase
Here are some of the key screens and components designed for the Digital Colleague Application.
Showcase of the final UI designs for the in-store ordering tool.