Increase customer loyalty and online net sales share through the use of smart devices

Increase customer loyalty and online net sales share through the use of smart devices

Zaaijer, M.J.

Romero Herrera, N.A. (mentor)
Van Heur, R.J.H.G. (mentor)

Industrial Design Engineering

Industrial Design

Master of Science Design for Interaction

2014-05-09

Hilti is a worldwide supplier to the construction industry and their ambitions are to expand bonding with its customers and increase online net sales share percentages. Furthermore Hilti wants to explore the possibilities on creating additional products or services based on smart devices. An extensive research has been performed to be able to associate better with the context of the project and the role Hilti plays in it. Starting with the (internal) analysis for in-depth research on the company. The internal analysis is followed by the external analysis in which the market, industry and trends are analysed. This is done throughout internal documents, objective research, bank reports, industry related magazines, porters 5 model and more. The most important aspect of the analysis is the customer and it’s relation with Hilti. Existing practices in the customers work context have been explored by observation at job-site and sending a survey among selected customers of Hilti. To explore the possibility for improving the interaction between customers and Hilti by the support of smart devices, respondents of the survey were interviewed. The extensive research resulted into three suggested design directions; “Virtual support”, “Don’t stop after the sales agreement” and “Take the customer on a safari”. The outcomes of the analysis was used as input for the synthesis. The synthesis started with the ideation that diverged towards a large number of ideas throughout brainstorm- and creative sessions. There after converge towards three concepts based on the design direction; “Interactive Catalogue”, “Business Development Tool” and “Be Next”. As closure of the synthesis phase the Interactive Catalogue has been selected as final concept based on the ‘best’ match with the companies and customer vision. The interactive catalogue is the transformation from the current paper catalogue into the digital environment with a lot of additional features. The concept aims to; fulfil the customer’s in their information need online, keeping the users up-to-date on Hilti innovations over a certain amount of time and increase their satisfaction during the post-purchase. The interactive catalogue is based on a tablet and makes use of its technical features. Furthermore the catalogue can be personalised and turn into a service tool after the customer is logged in. Being logged in the users are able to receive personal information and order products directly online. All this comes together combined in an attractive and easy to use interface. Eventually a prototype was build to test the concept among the target group during a user test. In the user test participants were asked to complete a scenario task. Both scenario and prototype were designed to mimic reality as much as possible. The test resulted in first recommendations and improvements for the interactive catalogue by Hilti. The validation showed that the target group was convinced that a concept like this would be the future. The interface is attractive and easy to use apart from some advised minor adjustments. In conclusion, the interactive catalogue was very well received, not only by the participants of the user test, but also by Hilti. The design and functionality of this digital catalogue aims to increase the users satisfaction, which results in loyal customers. Furthermore, it is possible to purchase products directly online from the interactive catalogue as well as managing Hilti services, which aim to increase the online net sales share. The opinions remain divided whether this is the best alternative for the paper catalogue. However, this graduation project has triggered Hilti to widen their ‘horizon’ and led to discussions in which the future of the catalogue will be seriously considered. ========================================================================================================== Prototype description; The prototype is simulating a working application on a tablet, in this case the iPad and was used for testing the usability of the interactive catalogue interface design. The user should be able to complete step 4 of the task scenario with the prototype. Note: the interface is in Dutch. How to open .apptaster file; AppTaster is a simple player of AppCooker projects. Follow the following steps in order to open the digital prototype; • Download the AppTaster app on your iOS device; https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/apptaster-play-mockups-prototypes/id518977767 • Download the file named; Apptaster Prototype_MZaaijer_1311387.apptaster • Import the project file from iTunes, Dropbox, Box or directly from an email (if you received it inside an email). Compatibility; Requires iOS 5.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

design for interaction
smart device
customer loyalty
social media
interface
design
online sales
hilti

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:18d5eb87-c496-4e42-99cb-a44fbb10045a

Campus only

Student theses

master thesis

(c) 2014 Zaaijer, M.J.