Shopify | Circular Commerce

Shopify: The Future of Commerce

ID Systems Thinking INDS 3008-003 Benji Laflamme Houston Keil-Vine Zoe Worsnip Melody Gamble

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SHOPIFY CASE STUDY

TABLE OF CONTENTS

WHO WE ARE

PAGE // 4

OUR METHODOLOGY

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PART I : RESEARCH

PAGE // 6-22

PART II: OPPORTUNITY

NOWABLE

PAGE // 25

SHORT-TERM

PAGE // 26

LONG-TERM

PAGE // 27

WIREFRAMES AND SCENARIOS

PAGE // 28-55

PROCESS DOCUMENT

PAGE // 56-75

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WHO WE ARE It is imperative that we recognize the value of understanding

a conversation that becomes the strategic subtext to the way

the context of the world we live in, thereby allowing us

we perceive life.

to identify potential and define informed futures. These environments are comprised of variables in their respective

Our desire as designers is to facilitate the connection and

moments of evolution, coming into contact with revolutions

benefit of these elements coming together to positively assist

and technologies. Distinguishing context in momentum crafts

people in maximizing their potential futures.

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SHOPIFY CASE STUDY

OUR METHODOLOGY The role of a consultation from our design strategy firm is to

Our method follows the Define - Explore - Present - Refine

present our clients with end to end solutions that allow them

flow. This framework allows us to develop a knowledge of the

to refocus their product in anticipation of future changes and

marketplace and trends that signal opportunities, combine

growth opportunities within their market.

them with customer and business insights in order to adapt technologies and optimize them future experiences.

EXPLORE

PRESENT

DEFINE

REFINE

// 01 DEFINE

We work to map current trends in the industry and and identify unique signals to explore. By combining

// 02 EXPLORE

We critically evaluate the current products of competitors in the marketplace and examine their com-

// 03 PRESENT

These products are then rapidly prototyped and presented to the client, allowing them to consider

this knowledge with the vision statement of the client, we can develop areas to create relevant growth platforms.

pany visions to predict future areas they will work towards. This allows the grading of growth platforms and development of products with excellent future market fit.

alternate futures for the company and evaluate critical strategies to implement these products. These products are positioned in the form of an on-going strategy map, allowing the client to visualize their progression towards these future products.

// 04 REFINE

By broadening the horizon of the client, we then work to redefine their mission statement and implement a set of tools that will allow them to anticipate and activate the products designed for them.

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PART I: RESEARCH

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SHOPIFY CASE STUDY

INTRODUCTION As Shopify has positioned themselves to be a leading brand in omnichannel commerce, they must create the foundation to understand the potential opportunities and designated responsibilities that accompany their vision.

In order to fully understand who Shopify is, we have conducted multiple methods of research to richly define the parameters of their offerings and potential markets. We will look to signals and trends to determine the environments of their field and the platforms, technologies and partnerships that can best exploit Shopify’s future.

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TREND MAPPING Looking at trends that can potentially impact Shopify’s ecosystem allows us to understand their diverse opportunity for partnerships. We chose to focus on Shopify’s overarching relationships with retail to determine the connections that could be made with their existing ecommerce services. In doing this, we acknowledge the disruptive shifts within the retail paired industry paired with the ever growing momentum of using technology as a rich platform for connections.

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JOURNEY MAPPING

Shopify Journey Map Receives Customer Email

Declined

Process Credit Card Notification

Adwords Social Media Interview & Blogging Physical Marketing Artifacts

Business

Check email Listen to Voicemail

Create / write

Notification

Upload New Images Abandon Cart

Phones Back

Read Review

Post

Locates Good

Add to Cart

Checkout

N

Responds

Customer

Product Exploration

Email

Product Search

Voicemail

Account Info

Credit Info

Shipping

Coupon Attempt

Billing

Confirmation

Shipping Selection

Tracking / Shipping

Dislike See

Receives Response

Phone Question

Discover

Marketing

Communication

Store Maintenance

Product Checkout

There are four main categories of marketing

Customers frequently contact businesses by

Store maintenance takes place on the Shopify

Once a customer has decided to purchase an

tactics: social media, blog outreach,

email and phone. Occasionally, emails will be

dashboard at the beginning or end of the day.

item, they are guided through the checkout

production of marketing material, and using

sent to Shopify instead of the business owner

This can include adding more content to an

process. This involves filling in their personal

Google adwords.

- in this instance they are rerouted to the

existing product page such as new pictures, a

information, including shipping and billing

buisness email.

more in depth product description, or reading

address. Information is also input by the

customer reviews on past orders.

customer at the shipping and coupon code

Social media: businesses typically use Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest to promote

Email correspondence follows the pattern of:

their products and services. Additionally, in

retrieve, sort by importance, carefully read,

This daily maintenance also includes a review

card is processed. If successfully submitted, a

subscribing to relevant accounts en masse,

respond and act on the result.

of data analytics such as conversion rates, site

confirmation email is sent to the customer

traffic, average order values, repeat customer

while also issuing a new order alert message to

and injecting themselves into public

stages. After the order is confirmed, the credit

conversations, businesses can acquire new

Phone calls typically result in a series of

orders, abandoned cart and recovery rate, as

the business. The business then packages the

audiences and potential customers. Social

missed calls and voicemails. Business owners

well as fraud analysis. The final step is to

product and hands it off to the postal service.

media can also be used to research new trends

dedicate a large period of time each day

review daily orders and daily revenue to ensure

Finally, the business inputs the tracking

and identify new product opportunities.

responding to these issues.

that orders are processed expeditiously.

information, and the customer is notified that

Blog outreach: being featured on a blog top

Breakpoints: The entire process lacks a

Breakpoints: Finding a simple solution within

ten list or being interviewed for a story can

streamlined approach, with most business

data and analytics offered can become

Breakpoints: Shipping is can be expensive and

lead to an increase in new customers for a new

owners acting on a case by case basis.

burdensome for smaller businesses with less

requires that a business rely on various postal

business.

Common mistakes include communication

experience, whereas maintenance becomes

services to send their products without delay.

breakdowns and the time/cost component of

exponentially more difficult to deal with the

Confirmation e-mails and follow up can be

shipping returns. .

longer it is put off.

delivered to the wrong address. Processing

the item has shipped.

Breakpoints: creating a following in social media sites can be a daunting task - not

credit codes and coupon codes also present

knowing what to post, when to post it, or what

certain issues, particularly for first time

site it is most appropriate for.

purchases.

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SHOPIFY CASE STUDY

Shopify offers its platform to over 200,000

illuminates the common steps in any business

businesses, each a stakeholder with differing

owner’s daily cycle that are either inefficient

needs. For this reason, we have created a

or unsustainable. Instances of Shopify’s

journey map that exemplifies a day in the

interaction are noted, as well as those of

life of one of Shopify’s many businesses.

the effects on the consumer, rounding out

Its application is broad, and therefore

potential areas for growth and improvement.

Notification

Accepted

End of Day

Print Shipping

Packaging

Pick-up Dropoff

Tracking

Product Issue

design opportunity

Decision Read

New Tracking Slip

Product Drop

Product Restock

New Product

Notification Email

Email or Review

Shipping

Mark Shipped

step

Accountant

Taxes

Notification

interaction

Export Data Credit Reprocess

Business Customer Follow-up

phase

Potential Purchase

Feedback

Receive New Product

Purchase Delivery

Delete Spam

Check Email

g

End of Day

Product Issue

Taxes

Product Addition

End of day tasks include confirmation of

When a consumer asks for a refund, there can

The taxes and accounting must be entirely

New stock will be added or dropped by the

product inventory, a review of payments and

be confusion in regards to determining which

managed at the business owner's discretion.

business owner, generating a new cycle of

accounting, a more in depth cycle of daily

service to ask - the business, or Shopify itself?

The owner will submit a request for their tax

interactions and maintenance. This is usually

maintenance tasks, and refund/return

This results in Shopify fielding thousands of

form from Shopify, which will be automatically

accompanied by new interactions with

processing.

refunds requests that they are not in a position

delivered to them. They would then file their

customers, using social media platforms or email.

to fulfill. However, when the business owner is

own taxes or take the form to their accountant

Breakpoints: Certain longer term business

contacted for a refund, the item is shipped

to be filed for them.

tasks can be daunting for newcomers.

back to the seller and a payment return

Understanding how to properly build the

request is sent to the automated shopify

Breakpoints: Many steps are required in this

requires update. Poor photos do not convey

groundwork for processes such as stocking,

system - reorienting the payment back to the

process. Finding an accountant can be

the appropriate details of the product, and

taxes and store policies require time and have

customer. In the case of items being replaced,

challenging, while also prohibitively expensive.

have the ability to misrepresent the business.

a large impact on daily functioning.

a new tracking number will be issued and

New product advertisement can be seen as

forwarded to the customer.

spam. Pricing needs to be determined and

Breakpoints: Product is discontinued and

issued. Products can be damaged when Breakpoints: It is a hassle to ship an item back

received by the customer or Shipments can

to the seller, once deciding on a return.

get lost, and requiring reimbursements from

Is the cost of a return worth the effort?

the business.

Customer

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Business

OPPORTUNITY AREAS Within the Journey map, we identified two major areas of opportunity: shipping and returns. These processes create regular anxiety for a business owner, especially as it requires routine and prompt attention.

Shopify currently leaves the process to the business owner, while leveraging the economies of scale could create valuable and differentiated service offerings.

Benji Laflamme Houston Keil- Vine Melody Gamble Zoe Worsnip

SHIPPING

RETURNS

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COMPETITION Looking at Shopify’s competitors allows us to analyse where their biggest expansion opportunity areas live. Like Shopify, their main ecommerce rivals focus on payment processing as a main source of revenue through digital retail platforms, leaving room for growth within physical retail markets. Additionally, by insinuating themselves as an active member in the realm of corporate morality, Shopify has the ability to affect prosumerism by aligning themselves with a new generation of conscious millennial consumers.

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FUTURE COMMERCE OPPORTUNITIES Returns

Product Discovery

About 3.5% of all holiday returns will be

When asked to name the top reasons to shop

fraudulent this year, according to research from

or visit a pop-up store, seasonal products top

the NRF. That’s up slightly from 3% in 2014.

the list, cited by 61% of respondents to our poll. Ranked next were “finding new or unique

NRF estimates that return fraud will

services/products” (39%), “shop locally” (36%),

cost retailers $2.2 billion in 2015, up from

“great prices” (34%), “convenience” (33%) and

approximately $1.9 billion last year.

have “a fun experience” (30%)

Inconvenient return policies deter 80% of

Now consumers have heightened shopping

customers.

expectations, with 71% expecting to view in-store inventory online, and 50% expecting

65% of returns are not the shoppers fault but

the ability to buy online and pick-up in-store.

are a result of damaged goods, wrong item being shipped, or a difference in products

Due to economic downturn, large retailers

appearance.

have suffered market loss and heightened production expenses. Canadian domestic retail market shows new production opportunities through more consistent and manageable small-scale processes.

http://www.trueship.com/articles/ecommerce-returns-statistics-key-facts-you-need-to-know/ http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/12/27/how-much-will-returns-cost-retailers-after-the-hol.aspx http://independentretailer.com/2015/01/12/whats-in-store-for-the-pop-up-industry-in-2015/ https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/oca-bc.nsf/eng/ca02855.html http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeremybogaisky/2014/02/12/retail-in-crisis-these-are-the-changes-brick-and-mortar-stores-must-make/#52e5e03e1127

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FUTURE COMMERCE OPPORTUNITIES Delivery

Asset Sharing

50% of respondents have abandoned a

Only 2% of the retail industry is currently

purchase online due to unsatisfactory delivery

involved in a sharing economy framework.

options.

Funding in the sharing economy is accelerating Product shipping accounts for 11 Billion gallons

year over year from 0.3 billion in 2010 to 6

of fuel usage and 1 billion metric tons of carbon

billion in 2014.

dioxide production.

Each business could rely on the accumulative coverage of Shopify’s business network to combat fraudulent product returns, as well as simplifying general product return processes.

https://econsultancy.com/reports/the-multichannel-retail-survey https://www.pwc.com/us/en/technology/publications/assets/pwc-consumer-intelligence-series-the-sharing-economy.pdf https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/ch/Documents/consumer-business/ch cb-shared-economy-share-and-make-money.pdf

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MARKET RESEARCH How do businesses feel about their Shopify experience?

What works?

What doesn’t work?

What are consumers asking for?

What other offerings should be added?

Two main areas of focus

Product Returns Shipping

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MARKET RESEARCH

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MARKET RESEARCH

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MARKET RESEARCH

How are other business turning these issues into opportunities?

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MARKET RESEARCH

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MARKET RESEARCH

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OPPORTUNITY STATEMENT Looking at Shopify’s competitors allows us to analyse where their biggest expansion opportunity areas live. Like Shopify main ecommerce competitors focus on payment processing as a main source of revenue through digital retail platforms, leaving room for growth within physical and internal markets. Additionally, by insinuating themselves as an active member in the realm of corporate morality, Shopify has the ability to affect and produce prosumerism by aligning themselves with a new generation of conscious millennial consumers.

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SHOPIFY CASE STUDY

PART II: OPPORTUNITIES

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INTRODUCTION The framework of Shopify’s opportunities are explained through an implementation timeline: Nowable, Short-term, and Long-term Unified Data is seen as Shopify’s first step in creating a foundation that differentiates them within the ecommerce market.

Digital Currency is the internal value system that creates a more seamless platform for their businesses, while motivating internal loyalty.

Partnerships are formed as the result of increased value through the foundations of Unified Data and Digital Currency.

This system incentivizes a Circular Economy, enabling businesses to take collective action for their impacts on the sustainability of the future.

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SHOPIFY CASE STUDY

NOWABLE Unified Data A unified data collection system that spans across both business and consumer-facing platforms would offer a mutually beneficial relationship for the parties involved. While businesses benefit from a data-wealthy system that compiles consumer shopping habits and shipping preferences across several stores, consumers could take advantage of one-click shipping, while also opting into the convenience of personally curated product recommendations.

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SHORT-TERM Digital Currency Creating a credit system for Shopify’s internal platform would incentivize business to business interactions. This would increase the value and activity levels within the Shopify ecosystem.

Shopify credits could initially be implemented to motivate a returns everywhere concept, and follow on to simulate a P2P sharing models across Shopify stores.

Partnerships Leveraging analytics to pair complementary product lines strengthens beneficial relationships between businesses, while providing customers with the curated collections they want. These partnership opportunities are scalable, beginning with product discovery boxes and expanding to joint popup events. Businesses mutually benefit each other by offering exposure to a larger audience with similar tastes.

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SHOPIFY CASE STUDY

LONG-TERM Circular Economy With the European Commission taking concrete steps towards a sustainable growth through the Circular Economy Package, paired to the looming global climate crisis, we can foresee stricter waste and energy usage regulations on the horizon. Shopify is in the unique position to strengthen individual businesses, by leveraging their networks to inform, cultivate and grow solutions towards a circular economy.

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Unified Data Digital Currency Partnerships

Customer

Closed Loop Efforts

Through a co-purchasing platform, business have the opportunity to customize their restocking capabilities without the minimum and maximum unit requirements.

Small businesses can use their collective power to access services that would not be accessible on an individual level, achieving a higher level of quality than similarly sized businesses.

Group Material Buying Ressource Efficiency

Business Shopify’s network provides ample opportunities for the creation of closed loop systems. By providing the tools for companies to identify and divert waste streams, Shopify acts as a keystone to nurturing sustainable business models.

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SHOPIFY CASE STUDY

Group Service Buying

Small businesses can use their collective power to access services that would not be accessible on an individual level, achieving a higher level of quality than similarly sized businesses.

Product Discovery

Creating a consumer-facing login across all Shopify-powered stores would provide a seamless shopping experience for the user, while building a richly defined database that can be progressively accessed based on level of Shopify plans.

Unified Profile

Shopify’s 200,000 individual stores could act as a network that would provide customers what they want, when they want it, on a local scale.

Local Customer Product Search

For many consumers, ethical purchasing is at the forefront of their buying behaviours.

Facilitating a network that could filter through various ecological standards would not only contribute to trending moral consumerism, but also incentivize all businesses to elevate their own standards.

Solving one of the largest pain points of the ecommerce industry by networking Shopify’s community would give consumers the assurance they need to make online purchases without the risk of losing money.

Offering flexible return opportunities would build the trust that is inherently found with brick and mortar retailers.

In-store Returns

Business Eco Rating

Returns

Space Rental

Shopify’s connected platform would allow businesses to offer their customers multi-platform returns with Shopify credits, enabling continued consumer foot traffic while simplifying individual business involvement.

Allows businesses to experiment with product placement in alternative spaces, providing feedback for further marketing strategies.

Shopify Opportunity Map

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GROUP MATERIAL PURCHASING For years Muttonhead has worked to refine its product line and offers its customers a variety of well made goods that fit their lifestyles. Recently, market research outlined consumers are on the hunt for a line of leather goods. Muttonhead’s head designer decides that it would be worth exploring this new potential new revenue source, and begins to research materials that could live up to the companny’s brand quality. Shopify’s Group Buying System allows doe the designer to order small set of hides, which would allow for prototyping and an initial small run of products.

Reducing the amount of material inventory allows Muttonhead to explore new product lines without being concerned over initial investments.

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SHOPIFY CASE STUDY

GROUP MATERIAL PURCHASING Through a co-purchasing platform, business have the opportunity to maximize their restocking efficiency without the minimum and maximum unit requirements, by paying bulk order prices with small order quantities.

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ECO-EFFICIENCY Zoe’s Honey is a small Toronto based brand that is passionate about delivering a quality product to her customers, while extolling the virtues of urban bee farming. Zoe has a fantastic product, produced with an environmentally sustainable agricultural method. Currently, however, her packaging isn’t able to compete with glass packaging offered by many larger producers.

By co-purchasing standardized bottles with other local businesses, Zoe can make a more environmentally conscious business decision.

Shopify’s Eco Efficiency rating system makes it easy to track which ways she can continue to improve the environmental impact of her business, while supporting her purchasing through local programs and services.

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SHOPIFY CASE STUDY

RESOURCE EFFICIENCY Shopify’s network provides ample opportunities for the creation of closed loop systems.

By providing the tools for companies to identify and divert waste streams, Shopify acts as a keystone to nurturing sustainable business models.

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SERVICE MARKET As Muttonhead prepares to open its second retail location and introduce new products lines, it could become more difficult for them to stay in touch with their core market of enthusiastic customers. With the help of Shopify Services, Muttonhead can receive preferential rates that allow them access to new marketing strategies.

With the help of Talin they are able to prepare a campaign that will help make their opening day a great success.

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SHOPIFY CASE STUDY

SERVICE MARKET Small businesses can use their collective power to access services that would not be available on an individual level, achieving a higher level of quality than similarly sized businesses.

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PRODUCT DISCOVERY Muttonhead offers its customers a wide range of accessories to compliment their lives. One of their most interesting products is a wide mouth mug that is perfect for drinking coffee next to a crackling fire. Following advice from their marketing team, Muttonhead leverages Shopify’s Product Partnership service to find other local vendors whose products would compliment this unique mug for holiday gift giving. Analytics suggest that a local coffee shop selling chemex coffee equipment, and an online coffee seller, Blue Bottle Coffee, would make excellent partners in creating a discovery box. Within seconds Muttonhead’s marketing team is put in contact Blue Bottle Coffee and begin discussing the mutual benefits of this partnership.

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PRODUCT DISCOVERY Shopify features a collaboration of different businesses through curated subscription boxes and shared shelf or retail spaces.

Increased business exposure and partnership exploration would incentivize consumer interaction.

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SPACE RENTAL Muttonhead has decided to open another brick and mortar location to sell their made in Toronto clothing line. In order to find their ideal customer base, they have rented shelf space in a variety of other Shopify stores.

First up, they contact Blue Barn to display their new line of five panel hats. With the information gained from their trial, they are able to make an informed decision for their future retail location. Now that they have found a location, they are able to bring in other shopify businesses to display in their store.

The other businesses buying into the location have been able to amass a decent amount of Shopify Currency through services rendered to other businesses. The businesses buying space in Muttonhead’s new location allow them to participate in a way that previously inaccessible to them.

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SPACE RENTAL Allows businesses to experiment with product placement in alternative spaces, providing feedback for further marketing strategies.

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UNIFIED PROFILE Nate regularly buys locally made clothing that appeals to his outdoor meets urban lifestyle.

On his first visit, Nate created a profile which contained his billing and shipping information and connected his instagram account to collect his fashion inspirations. Upon checking out of another online store, Park & Province, Nate was prompted to connect with his Shopify login. Surprised, Nate entered his password, turning the checkout process into a one-step click. When Shopify launched its ??! app, Nate was one of the first to download it and explore his local neighbourhood. He was delighted to find that a local store, Blue Barn had just begun carrying a new line of his favourite 5-Panel hats!

Later that week Nate was delighted to receive an email from Shopify with a collection of curated top picks that appealed to both his aesthetic and lifestyle.

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SHOPIFY CASE STUDY

UNIFIED PROFILE Creating a consumer-facing login across all Shopify-powered stores would provide a seamless shopping experience for the user, while building a richly defined database that can be progressively accessed based on level of Shopify plans.

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WHAT WHERE WHEN While searching for a last minute birthday gift, Nate searched his local area for a pair of shoes. He opened up Shopify’s ??! app, and was greeted by a list of new releases from his favorite local retailers. He searched for ‘shoes nearby’ and was presented with a long list of options. Selecting his favorite, he was able to simply order a pair and pick it up at a shop just minutes away from work. Mission accomplished with time to spare!

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LOCAL PRODUCT SEARCH TOOL

Shopify’s 200,000 individual stores could act as a network that would provide customers with what they want, when they want it, on a local scale.

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ECO RATING It can be hard to find ethical, eco-friendly products in a city as large as Toronto. Nate is already familiar with the local clothing companies he likes to support, but when it comes to new products it can be hard to differentiate between all of the different options. With Shopify’s new Eco Rating system, Nate can effectively weigh the pros and cons of any purchase or product without any additional research. By condensing all the information in one place, he can even save energy and shipping expenses by supporting local businesses that carry his favorite new product lines.

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SHOPIFY CASE STUDY

ECO-RATING

For many consumers, ethical

not only contribute to trending moral

purchasing is at the forefront of

consumerism, but also incentivize

their buying behaviours. Facilitating

all businesses to elevate their own

a network that could filter through

standards.

various ecological standards would

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RETURNS : CUSTOMERS A customer orders and receives a new shirt from Muttonhead and unfortunately it’s a size smaller than they expected. Using the Shopify app, they report the issue with their order and request a refund. Muttonhead responds and asks them to return the item to Old Faithful Shop, a store that is a one minute walk from their home.

The customer is then able to drop the item off during regular business hours and the item can be inspected, bundled, while the refund can be processed immediately.

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SHOPIFY CASE STUDY

RETURNS: CUSTOMER Solving one of the largest pain points of risk of losing money. Offering flexible the ecommerce industry by networking return opportunities would build the Shopify’s community would give

trust that is inherently found with brick

consumers the assurance they need

and mortar retailers.

to make online purchases without the

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RETURNS : BUSINESS A new customer walks into Old Faithful, carrying a Muttonhead hat. They walk up to the counter and presents the item for return. The Old Faithful staff scans the item, using their Shopify POS scanner and a delivery profile for the item opens. Following the instructions on screen the clerk confirms the condition of the item and confirms its status. The item is added to the next days shipping cue, and the clerk introduces their new customer to the Old Faithful Shop. Shopify Returns generates a commision cost for Old Faithful to process this return and Muttonhead automatically transfers them Shopify Currency when the item arrives.

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EVERYWHERE RETURNS Shopify’s connected platform would allow businesses to offer their customers multi-platform returns with Shopify credits, enabling continued consumer foot traffic while simplifying individual business involvement.

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PART III: PROCESS DOCUMENT

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BRIEF PROPOSAL MAP

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OUR STRATEGY IN THE MARKET

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TUCKER FIRST INTERVIEW Shopify first interview with Tucker Overall project goal: To provide a user with a clear and comprehensible experience that results in them locally finding the product they desire, without the searching, phoning, or travel that users have identified as pain points in the traditional boutique retail model.

Connection to Shopify: Shopify is a Canadian multichannel commerce platform whose goal is to provide “a better commerce experience for everyone”. Traditionally they have acted as the backend for stores and provided POS and credit card processing services.

We have identified them as an ideal fixpert because they are experiencing increasing competition from competitors (such as Amazon payments) and they have a culture that adapts well to experimentation and rapid prototyping.

Tucker Schreiber was interviewed as part of our process, *having recently attended the TODO symposium with him* we asked about some of shopify’s competitors and identified omni-channel distribution services as a key concern.

System level solution for Shopify: If we consider Amazon to be a distribution network of services connected through a single web interface then we can consider it to be a giant net covering a huge client base dedicated to delivering products to their door.

For Shopify, whose scale will never (and should never be as large) we suggest levering their 200,000 individual stores to act as connected patchwork of nets that covers an equally large area, well operating with the individual attention as only a boutique retailer can. Delivering products by both delivery and in-store.

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SHOPIFY CASE STUDY

Therefore the design task for Shopify is to design an interface that allows a customer to approach 200,000 different stores to search for a product they desire without completing 200,000 searches or phone calls or visits.

One product, One search, One confirmation, One pickup / delivery

Goals of the project:

Provide customers access to products they want when they want them

Find physical homes for online retailers

Increase the number of credit card transactions for Shopify to process

Decentralized product search tool will act as a customer acquisition channel

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TUCKER ON OTHER COMPANIES Product returns No matter where you business is, you’ll deal with returns eventually. Whether its from an online order, or in store – returns are a part of every business owners headaches.

Globally, returns account for a cost of more than $600b every year, and it isn’t an easy problem for retailers to solve. Some of the most common reasons for product returns are: sizing, color not matching product description, faulty item, gift.

Part of the problem for retailers stems in the fact that they don’t have an accurate return policy (if any at all) so consumers are able to take advantage of the fact that they can return a product whenever they please, however they please. On top of that, major credit card companies often side with the purchaser of a product than the business (depending on the credit card company).

With all of that said, there is plenty of opportunity for storeowners to have a better “product return” experience – inside, or outside of the Shopify ecosystem.

First, they can create a solid return policy. In an ideal world, Shopify (or an equivalent) would be able to create a return policy for every business it hosts – but every product, business, and business owner is different making it a more complex scenario. There are, however, some things any business owner can include in a return policy that helps with that. For instance, make sure all sales are NOT final (stand behind your products quality), prevent returns (by having accurate product descriptions and photos), use plain english in your return policy (legal wording sucks), don’t hide return costs or reshelving costs (wtf does that mean anyways?), make a time limit on it (30 days is pretty common), state whether or not its a return for cash, exchange, or credit (depends on the business).

In terms of like, Shopify as a PRODUCT – there’s not much we can do outside of what we already do.

I think it would be interesting to see what the actual return process looks like? Maybe if we had an actual “return” flow within Shopify POS it would be helpful. For instance, hit a “return” button, use the barcode scanner to find that items SKU/product ID and find what order it was associated with, pull up the order date, time, name, etc…..and then return with just a few clicks.

We have a return/refund policy generator that kicks out a standardized very vague return/refund policy that any store owner can use or modify to their liking.

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TUCKER ON OTHER COMPANIES Any time an item is returned to a store, the store owner can adjust the product inventory inventory count through our inventory management tool to show that it’s back in stock. They also have the ability to say it was ‘returned” on the original order page.

Product returns summary Make returns easier from a consumer standpoint by including a return policy in every order confirmation email Build a return item flow based on unique product ID in Shopify POS Flesh out and update the general return/refund policy generator Help educate business owners on the impact returns have on their business, and how to handle them properly or avoid them all together

How one storeowner deals with returns/exchanges I use zendesk and had my sister doing support part time (she moved into product design and samples) and I got super lucky hiring a local lady that is AMAZING at support. She bring things to my attention in ways to improve the overall biz (she hears from the customers). She works from home her own hours. It’s amazing.

From a Shopify employee on our support forum I would highly recommend trying out the Returns Management app to set up automated returns where you can have customers log in and get a pre-paid return label right on your site! It allows you to set up rules about when and how this would be available so it’s very flexible to match up your return policy to it :)

I would also check this out http://boldcommerce.com/bold-shopify-apps/returns-manager/returns-manager-shopify-app

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OPPORTUNITY RESEARCH Research what works in the market? how can we make it on brand / in their ecosystem

Interview Companies Whats not working?

What are people asking for?

What else?

Other company opportunities:

Caspar return policy: Caspar offers the unique promise that you will love their bed or you can return it for free. In the rare instance that a customer wishes to return their bed, Caspar will first offer them a free pillow topper for their mattress, and in the event that they are still not completely satisfied they will donate the mattress to local charity rather than shipping it back to the company.

Costco white gloves return policy: When purchasing a large appliance costco, will not only deliver and install the product for free, but in the event that you are dissatisfied they will come and retrieve it without any hassle on the part of the customer.

Costco in store returns: If a customer is dissatisfied with a product they can return if for a full refund at anytime as long as the 60% of the product is returned to the store. No packaging or recept is required.

Liveoutthere.com return policy: Free shipping and returns are included with every purchase, included in every package is a new return shipping label and a length of tape so the customer can reseal the packaging. Additionally liveoutthere encourages customers to order multiple sizes of a product so they can replicate the process of trying on clothing in a store. In this way liveoutthere has attempted to eliminate as many barriers as possible to a customer returning a product they are dissatisfied with.

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Timbuk2 donation program: When customers are finished with a product made by timbuk2 they are encouraged to return it to the company, who then repairs, refreshes, and then donates it to a local school child who is need. The customer then receives a 20% off coupon and free shipping on their next purchase. This along with Timbuk2s lifetime warranty ensures that bags are being used to their fullest extent

Supplements plus: is a small chain of health supplement stores that offer 2hr delivery provided by a local bike messenger delivery company.

Ace hardware local delivery: When a customer places a special order with Ace hardware, they deal with 1 customer service rep the entire time. Including that rep walking or driving the product to their home when it arrives and answering any questions about it.

Piggyback local delivery: Piggyback is company operating in san francisco that is hoping to leverage community connections and non-monetary reward systems to help communities organize picks and drop offs from local retailers that are part of customers everyday journeys. Unlike uber this service is not designed for profit, but to allow local communities to save time and energy by moving goods as part of their daily commutes.

This week with the help of Shopify we contacted 10 different retailers who all use shopify’s platform. We asked them about their most frequent difficulties with the platform and compared this information with the pain points that we identified in the system map last week. With these interviews we focused on touch point issues between the retailer and their customers, with a specific focus on issues that would be on brand for Shopify to assist with.

Here is a selection of take aways from the interviews:

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Retailer: Muttonhead Issue type: in store product pickup

Pull-quote: When a customer wants to pickup an item in store, all parties involved have to jump with a series of hoops to make it happen. First the customer is charged for shipping, then they have to email or phone us. We then have to manually pull the order from our automated shipping system and notify Shopify that we need to make a partial refund on the order. Then we send an email to the customer that says the product has “shipped” so that they know they can come and pick it up. At the end of the day it’s twice as much work to not ship an order out.

Shopify response: Currently Shopify isn’t responsible for how products are shipped, that is handled by third party services, however with the introduction of Uber Rush we need to consider modifying our portion of the issue to respond to our customers requests.

Retailer: Province of Canada Issue type: temporary sku items and price changes

Pull-quote: Last week he had our end of the season sample sale, it has a huge success but we discovered a few issues with our Shopify POS system. Firstly when having a temporary sale on every item in the store we had to manually adjust the price of each item at the checkout because if we had changed it in our inventory system then the online price of items would have dropped too. This meant that it took about twice as long to cash out a customer. The a similar issue cropped up when we had items that were samples rather than regular stock, we had to manually mark each sale as final sale and assign it a sample tag in the inventory system.

Shopify Response: This was a retail context that we never considered. The vast majority of our customers don’t have sample sale events and it wouldn’t be cost effect for us to roll out a new feature just to address this one issue.

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Retailer: Live Stock Issue type: Return stock location

Pull-quote: Many of our customers who are shopping on our online platform have trouble knowing if clothing items and shoes are going to fit them the right way. This means we have a higher than average number of returns and frequently customers would like to return items they purchased online to the retail location so that they can try on another size. For us this is a huge problem because it means that we have loose inventory floating between our in store POS system and our online inventory count. We have to manually account for these additional transactions and remember to update the inventory systems at the end of each business day. I can’t imagine what would happen if we opened multiple retail locations or had a distributed online distribution system.

Shopify response: Tracking stock between in-store inventory and online availability can be tricky for shop owners, in the past Shopify has considered expanding into being a third party logistic service to combat some of these issues, currently we may consider partnering with another service provide so that we can offer this service to our shop owners.

Retailer: Holly eyewear Issue type: Reshipping return items

Pull-quote: If we ship out eyewear to our customers and they have a problem with either the prescription or they dislike the frame style once they see it, we have a problem. Each of our items is unique to the customer and it can be very inconvenient for them to ship the product back, wait for us to readjust or rebuild and then re-ship it to the customer

Shopify response: Though using a third party extension like ShipStation can help stores quickly and easily manage shipping and returns, it still take significantly longer than competitors like Amazon to 69

PHASE 1: RETAILER EXPERIENCE

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Visiting Customer Experience Image Sourcing Platform GOAL: create a seamless interaction for unfamiliar users between online product identification, and local retail purchase

Out-of-town Customer

Decentralized Product Browsing

Identified Product Image Unidentified Brand

Reverse Image Search On Shopify Platform

?

Manual Retail Search

Happy New Customer

Ask Locals

New Customer Makes Physical Purchase

Product Identified

Shopify Directs Customer To Nearest Connected Retailer

Melody Gamble - Fixperts Sketches - February 1

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SHOPIFY IMPACT MAP

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MAPPING THE FUTURE

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OPPORTUNITY FLOW MAP

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