Timeline
May 2023 - Aug 2023
Team
2 Managers
1 Product Manager
2 Software Developers
1 Product Designer
My Role
Product Designer Intern
Design Lead
Responsibilities
UX Research & Interviews
Interaction Design
Wireframe & Prototype
Product Strategy Thinking
Some of my work during this internship is under an NDA, thus portions of data has been removed to protect company privacy.
My Role //
Autonomous Leadership
I worked with the PM. presenting works to gain buy-in from executives, senior stakeholders, and many other managers and teams throughout the product development cycle.
Insights & Ideation
I worked with a product manager, 3 business division managers, retail managers, and 2 developers to uncover insights, ideate, and translate concepts into features.
Planning & Scope Definition
I defined the product with my PM and division manager. We prioritized and negotiated solutions and features for testing, launch, and beyond.
Design Execution & Validation
I designed IOS and Android mobile experiences. I executed user journeys, wireframes, prototypes and usability tests, then collaborated with Engineers to build out the design.
Overview
What's LCBO? //
LCBO (the Liquor Control Board of Ontario) is a government-owned corporation responsible for the sale, regulation, and distribution of alcoholic beverages, generating billions in revenue each year.
The Problem //
While LCBO has historically experienced lower theft rates than other retailers, COVID-19 caused an upward trend in theft, costing millions. I was brought on as a Product Designer, and the core mission was to enhance the anti-theft initiative, conducting research and exploring concepts for a novel theft recovery program.
Discovery
The Challenge
A way to reduce theft and track high-value products once stolen.
Discovery
Breaking Down the Problem //
Breaking the challenge further, I identified that we have 3 high-level problems that we need to solve.
How to reduce, or deter theft from happening?
How to track products if they’re stolen?
How to identify stolen products and recover them once found?
What does success look like? //
Collaborating with the Product Manager, we outlined the success metrics that will signify the effectiveness of the discovery phase in our LCBO product recovery initiative:
Early Insights
The current Anti-Theft Measures //
At the beginning of 2023, LCBO initiated an anti-theft system, the "High-Theft Product Request," designed to secure the most expensive products by locking them away. Customers could request these products via kiosks for purchase.
While this system effectively deterred theft of high-value products, it also revealed an unsettling trend: theft of other on-shelf products was on the rise. Thieves were simply substituting locked-away products for others.
Interviewing Stakeholders //
With the problem to solve given to us by the CIO, we began by reaching out to key stakeholders to gain more insights, including LCBO's CIO, the Retail Department Manager, local store managers with high theft rates, and the Resource Protection Director.
Their insights were invaluable:
A deeper understanding
Backup with data //
Qualitative insights from stakeholders were helpful to get us started, but they weren't sufficient to formulate a clear solution.
To support our assumptions, I collaborated with a data analyst and worked on further research and data organization. Here's what we learned:
Dancing on the line
Thieves know security or employees can’t do anything but act as a deterrence so that more security likely won’t help.
95%
Product Resell
of cases, thieves stole products to resell, not for personal use.
90%
Unidentifiable Products
of Stolen products are then illegally sold at a low price to licensees (restaurants, bars, nightclubs…) and LCBO then has no way to identify them.
Tracker Info
LCBO’s Resource protection team has been working with real-time trackers to track organized crimes with little success as most times, the tracker is found and disposed of.
Note: For company’s confidentiality reasons, I have omitted the exact values for these metrics.
Explore Ideas
Brainstorming at its Finest //
LCBO as Canada’s largest alcohol retailer cares deeply for customers’ shopping experiences, and as a UX designer, I understood the need to balance anti-theft solutions with the everyday customer journey.
The PM and I initiated a brainstorming workshop, generating a multitude of ideas. We then utilized a dot voting system to narrow down our options.
Using Affinity maps, the ideas were grouped into 2 major categories:
Active Tracking
Active tracking involves real-time monitoring and tracing of items using technologies like GPS, providing precise and immediate location data. (Airtags, trackers, active RFID…)
Passive Tracking
Passive tracking stores data locally on tracking devices for later retrieval and analysis. Thus, it doesn't have real-time tracking making it less costly. (QR Code, passive RFID tags, UV Ink…)
The best ideas from both categories were then moved along the design process.
phase 2
define
Define
Transforming feedback into insights //
With our most promising ideas, I began defining the users, product journeys, and processes with Storyboards, User Journey maps, and swim lane diagrams.
Sample User Persona
Sample Scenario Map & Storyboard
With the research data, I visualized the designs and presented them to stakeholders, including Directors from other teams to show our concepts, inspire better solutions, and get aligned with the direction.
Sample Passive & Active Tracking Concepts
Sample Resource Protection User Journey
The selected processes above were all key to getting a better understanding of anti-theft solutions, and how each of these concepts can be incorporated into LCBO smoothly and effectively.
First Iteration with Learnings //
While our pitch was well received, none of our four concepts garnered full support from all stakeholders.
Despite an unsuccessful first attempt, we were able to learn the main issues with our current concepts:
Critical Learning
" In a project where the stakeholders do not know exactly what they want, it was critical to present varying concepts as this could inspire a better solution; "
and this was the case for us!
The Bigger Picture //
Reframe the problem
Removing the Random Variable //
An important piece of the puzzle was that 95% of the time, thieves steal products to resell, not to consume on their own.
Critical Learning
" Thus, this means that getting licensees (bars, restaurants, clubs…) to stop buying products from thieves is another way to reduce theft; because why would thieves steal products to resell if no one would buy them? "
We presented this licensee-centric idea to LCBO's Resource Protection team, and it was met with enthusiasm. We quickly set the idea in motion.
newer & better
An RFID Approach //
Using our previous research and ideas, we worked with the resource protection team to develop a new RFID scanning method that focuses on reducing theft and recovery of stolen products through licensees.
Why RFID? Well, it’s:
Low cost to test and ship
Similar in concept as UV Ink which staeakholders liked
Can be hidden and easily attached to products
Least friction when adding to an employee’s workflow
To make it easier to communicate our ideas and how they work to other people, we created a storyboard to convey our understanding.
We presented this licensee-centric idea to LCBO's Resource Protection team, and it was met with enthusiasm. We quickly set the idea in motion.
phase 3
Design
How we built it
Wireframes/mockups to communicate ideas //
As a designer, I often have many ideas for the designs of different features and can get caught up in figuring out the best ones. Thus, I always try to base the designs not on my biases, but on usability tests and data.
This time, I came up with as many ideas as possible. Then I picked some and shared it with the Product team to discuss designs. With that, I based the final designs on usability tests, demos, and numbers.
Narrow down ideas and usability test //
In a bigger organization, having an agile approach is great to ensure a smoother process.
So, to communicate our ideas early, I consistently kept my team in the design loop. For difficult decisions, I set up usability tests and small workshops for my team to get clearer feedback.
It’s also a good deliverable to share with people outside of product teams about the solution as it can uncover improvements that us designers and people working on the product might not see.
Major Iteration #1 - Scope //
Usability testing paved the way for a counterintuitive yet amazing iteration of the product assignment flow.
When thinking about scanning applications, the image in most people’s heads is probably a scanner that once scanned a product, displays all the details about that product. However, usability testing made me realize all the product information is not directly necessary for identifying if a product is stolen or purchased; All we need is the product’s RFID to be connected to its licensee.
Critical Learning
" The art of good UX is not about how much you can add, but how much you can take away without losing functionality. "
Major Iteration #2 - 2 birds with 1 stone //
Over the past few months, LCBO has attempted to use live trackers hidden in product boxes to trace thieves, but with limited success. The primary challenge stems from thieves consistently discovering and discarding the trackers before selling the products, rendering the tracking efforts ineffective and costing LCBO tens of thousands of dollars.
However, realizing that RFID can be completely hidden and able to store data, we conceptualized an idea to use the tracker along with an RFID tag to store the tracker’s information. This innovative approach gives the tracker a second chance, even if the physical tracker is discarded, as the RFID tag can still identify the product as stolen
Final design
Select Licensee //
When LCBO packs an order for a licensee, they begin by selecting the licensee, and the store number the product is being shipped from.
Product Assignment //
After the licensee is selected, they can begin scanning all the RFID products and assign them to the Licensee.
Product Verification //
Resource protection is able to scan the RFIDs on different products in a licensee's establishment to verify legitimate or stolen products.
Tracker Details //
Associated tracker information stored in the RFID would pop up when scanned.
The final App Demo received great feedback and further validation from different departments, and further developement is going to be set in motion!
Key Takeaways //
The Power of Storytelling
From building a more compelling case for a solution to crafting meaningful and memorable user experiences, storytelling stands out as one of the most powerful tools in a product designer's arsenal. My experience at LCBO also underscored the effectiveness of using storytelling to convey my perspective to developers and upper management, garnering their support and understanding
Value to Money
My work at LCBO highlighted the importance of delivering time and cost-effective solutions that maximize value for both the organization and its customers. This emphasis on efficiency and practicality remains a guiding principle in my design approach.
KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid)
The KISS principle was taught to me the first day on the job. As designers, we can become overly confident in our designs. But the thing is, if something has a chance to go wrong, it likely will. Thus, this principle informs my commitment to crafting user-friendly and intuitive experiences.
Be a Confident Designer
The biggest growth I've had this intership outside of design would definitely be my confidence, and understanding the importance of it in the role of a designer. Being one of the roles in a company that focuses on end users, our decisions and processes are crucial to maintain a healthy balance dispite the pushbacks we will certainly face.
My time at LCBO has been an incredibly fulfilling experience. I've had the opportunity to learn from some truly remarkable individuals, particularly within my exceptional team. These four months have presented their fair share of challenges, but it's within these very challenges that I've experienced significant growth and learning as a product designer. This journey brings me one step closer to achieving my aspiration of becoming one of the best product designers in the field.
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