ICE MAX Service Upgrade
“ How Might We improve customer experience?”
“ How Might We attract more customers?”
“ How Might We optimize store management?“
Ice max- Store Development Strategy
As small and medium-sized businesses were hit hard by the epidemic, ICE MAX is one of them. We conducted research on customers and stores to help ICE MAX become more competitive, also we identified opportunities to upgrade the whole service and store from different angles as a strategy for the future.
Project Type: User Research/ Strategic Design, IIT ID Team Project
Duration: 7 Weeks (Nov 2021- Dec 2021)
My Role: Observation, Interview. Analysis&Synthesis
Location: Chicago
Teammates: Yiqi Zhong, Kota Fujikawa
Overview
ICE MAX?
Problem:
Through competitive products comparison and research, observation, analysis, we found that ICE MAX has the following problems:
1. ICE MAX’s owner is not clear about the brand positioning, the decoration style that attracts customers differently from the subconscious target customer group.
2. The store is managed in a home-based way. There are no rules and regulations for communication, hygiene, division of labor, and preparation of ingredients.
3. The store facilities and environment are not thought from the customer's perspective, which affects the customer experience.
4. No brand marketing thinking, no capture of product features for online and offline promotion.
Opportunity:
From both brand market and customer experience perspectives, we propose a new customer journey and service blueprint to address the above issues.
We give three aspects of guidance from environment, market, and customer experience, so that ICE MAX can refer to it for brand service improvement.
RESEARCH
Store management
The layout of the operation area needs to be optimized to improve the staff’s efficiency.
We recorded a total of 02:45 spent in the entire shake-making process, moving back and forth a total of 4 times.
During the interview with the staff, they didn't realize they were going back and forth.
No uniform regulatory management system.
1. Communication
During the interview, we learned that the store did not train its employees about how to face customers. Staff only welcome customers according to their mood, which includes greeting, recommending popular products, making recommendations according to customer preferences, asking for taste feedback, and sending customers off with enthusiasm.
2. Hygiene
Who is responsible for cleaning the table?
Everybody = Nobody
When we observed the store during peak hours, everyone was busy with orders, but no one came to clean the table. Customers need to clean up by themselves or put up with dirty things to sit down.
3. Work Division
Orders can be fulfilled by casual cooperation among staff during the winter off-season. However, during the peak ice cream season, the lack of a good division of labor can lead to inefficiency and thus prolong the waiting time for customers and leave a bad impression on them.
4. Preparation
Based on experience to determine how many ingredients to prepare, waste is inevitable.
While observing the operations during store closures, we noticed that a lot of ingredients were being dumped. Although staff tried to keep them in the refrigerator for insurance, the ingredients in the drinks cannot be used every other day.
Current
Customer Experience
Through customer journey map and further interview research, we identified the following opportunities.
Brand Position
A Gap exists between the actual customer base and the store vision.
Competitor Analysis
To better understand our competitors and learn from them at the same time.
We visited another store in Chinatown that also sells roll ice cream.
We experienced the whole service as consumers and also observed the store and customers.
