Walmart Auto - Case Study
Walmart Auto - Case Study
Walmart Auto - Case Study
OBJECTIVE
Design a hassle free experience which can help customers to explore and purchase the right part for their vehicle.
COMPANY
Walmart
SKILLS
Product Thinking, Concept Development, Visual Design, Prototyping
Each car consists of approximately 30,000 components, including the tiniest screws. When you factor in the multitude of genuine and aftermarket manufacturers, the sheer volume of available parts for each vehicle becomes overwhelming.
The core issue arises when a user attempts to purchase a specific car part online. At this point, users are confronted with an extensive array of items to choose from. Navigating through this vast selection can be daunting, leaving many users struggling to locate the precise part they require and unsure about its compatibility with their vehicle.
Customer Research
The car service industry was under the control of manufacturers until June 2014, as they restricted the availability of spare parts in the open market. This situation underwent a transformation following a Supreme Court ruling in India, which mandated that manufacturers must make all spare parts accessible in the market. This legal decision paved the way for numerous vendors to offer their inventories online.
While many people readily make online purchases for various products, there is often hesitation when it comes to buying car parts. Most individuals have their vehicles serviced by the manufacturer until the free service period expires, after which they typically opt for local garages. Users may harbor concerns about procuring parts they cannot install themselves, or they might worry that supplying a car part to their local garage for fitting could potentially offend the garage.
In reality, as long as the parts provided are in good condition and are the correct fit for the specific car model, most garages and mechanics are generally accommodating. They still earn revenue from labor charges. Consequently, individuals can often achieve significant cost savings by sourcing the automotive spare parts they need online, rather than purchasing them through garages or directly from major car manufacturers.
A survey done with 10 car owners
Spare Market Research
There are 3 types of car parts in the market
Genuine (or original equipment)
Genuine parts are what automakers use at the factory when building a car and are the most expensive on the market. The packaging will usually carry the manufacturers’ branding, though in some cases, a sister company may supply the part.
OEM or original equipment manufacturer
Car manufacturers do not produce every single vehicle component. A company employed by the original manufacturer to produce these parts is the OEM. OEM parts makers often sell components under their own name and branding. These items are identical to genuine parts but present a substantial cost saving.
Aftermarket parts
Aftermarket parts are those not produced by or connected with the manufacturer. Aftermarket producers may also design and manufacture upgraded performance parts that exceed the operation and standards of an original part.
Offline World Of Part Shopping
Competitor Analysis
Car spares sites are a victim of their own size, there are dozens of online spare parts stores that exists today. However, the problem with most of them is that they do not handhold the user thru the journey of finding the right spares meant only for their car. Most sites are visually cluttered and have a slow manual car on boarding process which could sometimes lead to a completely wrong set of parts even if one value is entered wrong.
Most homepages are cluttered in terms of what is displayed. It houses multiple logos/ features products / new arrivals etc most of which is just not required for the user.
A user who’s looking for an air filter for his/her Maruti Celerio has nothing to do with a BMW 530d Engine Mount which is displayed in the homepage.
Cluttered screens are frustrating to users. When there are too many elements on one page, they are all competing for a user’s attention and add effort to the buyer’s journey.
On-boarding a car is fairly simple although some are time consuming with the list. The system matches the parts to the Manufacturer / Car Model / Production Year / Variant or the cars VIN number.
Most users are aware of the above details of the car. However, there are a few who are unsure of Year & Variant, this could pose as a blocker if the user is looking to purchase certain (Eg. Top end trim has a different engine with higher capacity) this could lead to wrong parts being purchased or the user will reach a point of confusion and drop out.
User Personas
Introducing Walmart Auto
A smart AI based car part shopping experience with smart parts assistant for on boarding & image search for parts.
User Journey:
Parts Assistant
Parts assistant is an AI driven car finder which allows the user to on board his/her car by simply pointing the camera at the car / RC Card / Insurance or manually enter the car number plate.
How Automatic Car On Boarding works
The exact mapping of a car can be done using its Chassis/VIN Number Chasis number can be found on
1. RC card / Insurance
2. Most cars will have the number as represented by the image
Scan Vehicle Number to on board car
Government site https://vahan.parivahan.gov.in maintains a record of all registered cars in the below format
They also provide a paid service to display complete Chassis & Engine numbers to certain kinds of organizations.
Wireframes
High Fidelity Mockups
User Testing & Results
In our user experience evaluation, participants were tasked with purchasing car air filters using our interactive prototype and similar competitor websites. While the competitor websites typically took users 60-90 seconds to reach the Product Detail Page (PDP). Our prototype's efficiency was notably faster, with no measurable load times or scanning delays. The introduction of the parts assistant feature was particularly well-received by users.
What Next?
1. Gamification with Augmented Reality
As Augmented Reality technology continues to advance rapidly, envision a future where you can have a lifelike 3D model of your car right in front of you. You'll be able to seamlessly select and install various parts and accessories in real-time, akin to the experience found in popular "Need for Speed" video games.
2. Introduce an OBD device
A cutting-edge OBD (On-Board Diagnostics) device that provides real-time car diagnostics, continuously monitoring the overall health of your vehicle and promptly detecting potential failures or issues. The accompanying app can conveniently present a curated list of recommended replacement parts based on the diagnostic data. Moreover, these recommendations can be further refined by drawing from data collected from other vehicles equipped with the same replacement parts, making this rating system significantly more precise than relying solely on user reviews.
OBJECTIVE
Design a hassle free experience which can help customers to explore and purchase the right part for their vehicle.
COMPANY
Walmart
SKILLS
Product Thinking, Concept Development, Visual Design, Prototyping
Each car consists of approximately 30,000 components, including the tiniest screws. When you factor in the multitude of genuine and aftermarket manufacturers, the sheer volume of available parts for each vehicle becomes overwhelming.
The core issue arises when a user attempts to purchase a specific car part online. At this point, users are confronted with an extensive array of items to choose from. Navigating through this vast selection can be daunting, leaving many users struggling to locate the precise part they require and unsure about its compatibility with their vehicle.
Customer Research
The car service industry was under the control of manufacturers until June 2014, as they restricted the availability of spare parts in the open market. This situation underwent a transformation following a Supreme Court ruling in India, which mandated that manufacturers must make all spare parts accessible in the market. This legal decision paved the way for numerous vendors to offer their inventories online.
While many people readily make online purchases for various products, there is often hesitation when it comes to buying car parts. Most individuals have their vehicles serviced by the manufacturer until the free service period expires, after which they typically opt for local garages. Users may harbor concerns about procuring parts they cannot install themselves, or they might worry that supplying a car part to their local garage for fitting could potentially offend the garage.
In reality, as long as the parts provided are in good condition and are the correct fit for the specific car model, most garages and mechanics are generally accommodating. They still earn revenue from labor charges. Consequently, individuals can often achieve significant cost savings by sourcing the automotive spare parts they need online, rather than purchasing them through garages or directly from major car manufacturers.
A survey done with 10 car owners
Spare Market Research
There are 3 types of car parts in the market
Genuine (or original equipment)
Genuine parts are what automakers use at the factory when building a car and are the most expensive on the market. The packaging will usually carry the manufacturers’ branding, though in some cases, a sister company may supply the part.
OEM or original equipment manufacturer
Car manufacturers do not produce every single vehicle component. A company employed by the original manufacturer to produce these parts is the OEM. OEM parts makers often sell components under their own name and branding. These items are identical to genuine parts but present a substantial cost saving.
Aftermarket parts
Aftermarket parts are those not produced by or connected with the manufacturer. Aftermarket producers may also design and manufacture upgraded performance parts that exceed the operation and standards of an original part.
Offline World Of Part Shopping
Competitor Analysis
Car spares sites are a victim of their own size, there are dozens of online spare parts stores that exists today. However, the problem with most of them is that they do not handhold the user thru the journey of finding the right spares meant only for their car. Most sites are visually cluttered and have a slow manual car on boarding process which could sometimes lead to a completely wrong set of parts even if one value is entered wrong.
Most homepages are cluttered in terms of what is displayed. It houses multiple logos/ features products / new arrivals etc most of which is just not required for the user.
A user who’s looking for an air filter for his/her Maruti Celerio has nothing to do with a BMW 530d Engine Mount which is displayed in the homepage.
Cluttered screens are frustrating to users. When there are too many elements on one page, they are all competing for a user’s attention and add effort to the buyer’s journey.
On-boarding a car is fairly simple although some are time consuming with the list. The system matches the parts to the Manufacturer / Car Model / Production Year / Variant or the cars VIN number.
Most users are aware of the above details of the car. However, there are a few who are unsure of Year & Variant, this could pose as a blocker if the user is looking to purchase certain (Eg. Top end trim has a different engine with higher capacity) this could lead to wrong parts being purchased or the user will reach a point of confusion and drop out.
User Personas
Introducing Walmart Auto
A smart AI based car part shopping experience with smart parts assistant for on boarding & image search for parts.
User Journey:
Parts Assistant
Parts assistant is an AI driven car finder which allows the user to on board his/her car by simply pointing the camera at the car / RC Card / Insurance or manually enter the car number plate.
How Automatic Car On Boarding works
The exact mapping of a car can be done using its Chassis/VIN Number Chasis number can be found on
1. RC card / Insurance
2. Most cars will have the number as represented by the image
Scan Vehicle Number to on board car
Government site https://vahan.parivahan.gov.in maintains a record of all registered cars in the below format
They also provide a paid service to display complete Chassis & Engine numbers to certain kinds of organizations.
Wireframes
High Fidelity Mockups
User Testing & Results
In our user experience evaluation, participants were tasked with purchasing car air filters using our interactive prototype and similar competitor websites. While the competitor websites typically took users 60-90 seconds to reach the Product Detail Page (PDP). Our prototype's efficiency was notably faster, with no measurable load times or scanning delays. The introduction of the parts assistant feature was particularly well-received by users.
What Next?
1. Gamification with Augmented Reality
As Augmented Reality technology continues to advance rapidly, envision a future where you can have a lifelike 3D model of your car right in front of you. You'll be able to seamlessly select and install various parts and accessories in real-time, akin to the experience found in popular "Need for Speed" video games.
2. Introduce an OBD device
A cutting-edge OBD (On-Board Diagnostics) device that provides real-time car diagnostics, continuously monitoring the overall health of your vehicle and promptly detecting potential failures or issues. The accompanying app can conveniently present a curated list of recommended replacement parts based on the diagnostic data. Moreover, these recommendations can be further refined by drawing from data collected from other vehicles equipped with the same replacement parts, making this rating system significantly more precise than relying solely on user reviews.
OBJECTIVE
Design a hassle free experience which can help customers to explore and purchase the right part for their vehicle.
COMPANY
Walmart
SKILLS
Product Thinking, Concept Development, Visual Design, Prototyping
Each car consists of approximately 30,000 components, including the tiniest screws. When you factor in the multitude of genuine and aftermarket manufacturers, the sheer volume of available parts for each vehicle becomes overwhelming.
The core issue arises when a user attempts to purchase a specific car part online. At this point, users are confronted with an extensive array of items to choose from. Navigating through this vast selection can be daunting, leaving many users struggling to locate the precise part they require and unsure about its compatibility with their vehicle.
Customer Research
The car service industry was under the control of manufacturers until June 2014, as they restricted the availability of spare parts in the open market. This situation underwent a transformation following a Supreme Court ruling in India, which mandated that manufacturers must make all spare parts accessible in the market. This legal decision paved the way for numerous vendors to offer their inventories online.
While many people readily make online purchases for various products, there is often hesitation when it comes to buying car parts. Most individuals have their vehicles serviced by the manufacturer until the free service period expires, after which they typically opt for local garages. Users may harbor concerns about procuring parts they cannot install themselves, or they might worry that supplying a car part to their local garage for fitting could potentially offend the garage.
In reality, as long as the parts provided are in good condition and are the correct fit for the specific car model, most garages and mechanics are generally accommodating. They still earn revenue from labor charges. Consequently, individuals can often achieve significant cost savings by sourcing the automotive spare parts they need online, rather than purchasing them through garages or directly from major car manufacturers.
A survey done with 10 car owners
Spare Market Research
There are 3 types of car parts in the market
Genuine (or original equipment)
Genuine parts are what automakers use at the factory when building a car and are the most expensive on the market. The packaging will usually carry the manufacturers’ branding, though in some cases, a sister company may supply the part.
OEM or original equipment manufacturer
Car manufacturers do not produce every single vehicle component. A company employed by the original manufacturer to produce these parts is the OEM. OEM parts makers often sell components under their own name and branding. These items are identical to genuine parts but present a substantial cost saving.
Aftermarket parts
Aftermarket parts are those not produced by or connected with the manufacturer. Aftermarket producers may also design and manufacture upgraded performance parts that exceed the operation and standards of an original part.
Offline World Of Part Shopping
Competitor Analysis
Car spares sites are a victim of their own size, there are dozens of online spare parts stores that exists today. However, the problem with most of them is that they do not handhold the user thru the journey of finding the right spares meant only for their car. Most sites are visually cluttered and have a slow manual car on boarding process which could sometimes lead to a completely wrong set of parts even if one value is entered wrong.
Most homepages are cluttered in terms of what is displayed. It houses multiple logos/ features products / new arrivals etc most of which is just not required for the user.
A user who’s looking for an air filter for his/her Maruti Celerio has nothing to do with a BMW 530d Engine Mount which is displayed in the homepage.
Cluttered screens are frustrating to users. When there are too many elements on one page, they are all competing for a user’s attention and add effort to the buyer’s journey.
On-boarding a car is fairly simple although some are time consuming with the list. The system matches the parts to the Manufacturer / Car Model / Production Year / Variant or the cars VIN number.
Most users are aware of the above details of the car. However, there are a few who are unsure of Year & Variant, this could pose as a blocker if the user is looking to purchase certain (Eg. Top end trim has a different engine with higher capacity) this could lead to wrong parts being purchased or the user will reach a point of confusion and drop out.
User Personas
Introducing Walmart Auto
A smart AI based car part shopping experience with smart parts assistant for on boarding & image search for parts.
User Journey:
Parts Assistant
Parts assistant is an AI driven car finder which allows the user to on board his/her car by simply pointing the camera at the car / RC Card / Insurance or manually enter the car number plate.
How Automatic Car On Boarding works
The exact mapping of a car can be done using its Chassis/VIN Number Chasis number can be found on
1. RC card / Insurance
2. Most cars will have the number as represented by the image
Scan Vehicle Number to on board car
Government site https://vahan.parivahan.gov.in maintains a record of all registered cars in the below format
They also provide a paid service to display complete Chassis & Engine numbers to certain kinds of organizations.
Wireframes
High Fidelity Mockups
User Testing & Results
In our user experience evaluation, participants were tasked with purchasing car air filters using our interactive prototype and similar competitor websites. While the competitor websites typically took users 60-90 seconds to reach the Product Detail Page (PDP). Our prototype's efficiency was notably faster, with no measurable load times or scanning delays. The introduction of the parts assistant feature was particularly well-received by users.
What Next?
1. Gamification with Augmented Reality
As Augmented Reality technology continues to advance rapidly, envision a future where you can have a lifelike 3D model of your car right in front of you. You'll be able to seamlessly select and install various parts and accessories in real-time, akin to the experience found in popular "Need for Speed" video games.
2. Introduce an OBD device
A cutting-edge OBD (On-Board Diagnostics) device that provides real-time car diagnostics, continuously monitoring the overall health of your vehicle and promptly detecting potential failures or issues. The accompanying app can conveniently present a curated list of recommended replacement parts based on the diagnostic data. Moreover, these recommendations can be further refined by drawing from data collected from other vehicles equipped with the same replacement parts, making this rating system significantly more precise than relying solely on user reviews.