A parent shopping with a child in a grocery cart

Contextual research / Mixed methods / Experience framework

Ideal Experienceof a Retail Store.

Lextant-supervisedSDES 711 / SCADSix-person research team

Scroll to enter the store

The question

What would it take for a big-box shopping trip to feel genuinely good?

Not just efficient. Not just done. The team defined the experience first, then translated it into a tangible store journey.

Duration: Jan to Mar 2024
Course: Methods of Contextual Research
Team: 6 cross-disciplinary members
Foundation: Lextant-developed frameworks
Tools: Figma / InDesign / Notion / Autodesk

15+hours in stores

4stores observed

75+shoppers surveyed

18interviews

The complete process

From the store floor
to a designed response.

The work moved in sequence. Each method added a different kind of evidence before the team synthesized anything.

01
Secondary research
50+ articles from Gartner, McKinsey, Deloitte, and others mapped the retail narrative.
02
Behavioural observation
15+ hours across Walmart, Costco, Target, and Sam's Club.
03
Shopper surveys
75+ responses explored time, money, trust, and navigation.
04
Stakeholder mapping
The 4C framework connected customers, competitors, collaborators, and communities.
05
Stimulus kit
Participants composed the retail experience they wanted and rejected.
06
Sensory cues
Physical objects and image prompts surfaced felt expectations.
07
Interviews
18 conversations examined store choice and time-money tradeoffs.
08
Affinitization
1,700+ physical observations were organized by hand.
09
Experience framework
Eleven insights resolved into four desired feelings.
10
Design opportunity
The framework informed a connected smart-cart journey.

Behavioural research first

15+ hours
watching shopping
as it happened.

Across Walmart, Costco, Target, and Sam's Club, the team studied visible behaviour in context before asking people to explain it.

Researchers observing shopper behaviour inside a retail store — ObserveFollow the trip, not an isolated task.

Researchers recording contextual observations in a retail aisle — RecordCapture what happened before interpreting why.

From observed to expressed

Behaviour showed what happened.
Workshops revealed what good could feel like.

Surveys and interviews captured reported experience. Stimulus kits and sensory cues let participants point to qualities that were difficult to express in ordinary conversation.

Overhead view of sensory objects, retail images, symbols, and ideal-experience sorting boards

Sensory cue workshopObjects. Images. Memory. Feeling.

Participants selected, arranged, and discussed physical and visual cues across the five senses.

A participant discussing selected cue material with a research team member — FacilitateAsk participants to explain the meaning behind a choice.

A group discussing the sensory-cue materials around a workshop table — ListenLet the group expose agreements, tensions, and unexpected associations.

A participant completing a structured research activity — CompareConnect individual expression with the wider evidence set.

What people did

Behavioural observation in real retail contexts.

What people said

75+ surveys and 18 shopper interviews.

What people imagined

Stimulus-kit and sensory-cue workshops.

Back in the studio

Then 1,700+ observations
covered the room.

The team handled the evidence physically, moving notes, challenging groupings, and preserving the path back to the original observation.

Research team members manually organizing observation notes across several walls — Manual affinitization in progress

A hand holding a large stack of physical observation notes — Not 1,700 insights. 1,700+ pieces of evidence.

Insight translation

Every reduction
had to earn its place.

Scroll through the physical reduction: observations to clusters, themes, and finally insights.

The research team surrounded by walls of affinitized notes

A hand holding a dense stack of the physical observation notes — **1,700+**observations

A hand holding the blue clusters created during affinitization — **174**clusters

A hand holding the pink themes created during synthesis — 47themes

A hand holding the final green insight cards — 11insights

1,700+observations
174clusters
47themes
11insights

1,700+ observations / 11 insights

The insight is not the volume.
It is what survived it.

Smart AI shopping assistant for an effortless in-store experience

Shopping can be calming and therapeutic

Sustainability encourages thoughtful decisions

Demos and digital interactions ignite curiosity

Transportation shapes the complete store experience

Every second counts while shopping

Kids shape the in-store atmosphere

One unified experience across every channel

Uniform pricing, regardless of where or when

Finding everything feels satisfying

Passive activity creates unnoticed time loss

11 discoveries / one desired experience

11 insights / 4 experience pillars

Four feelings.
One human outcome.

I feelaccomplished

I amSatisfiedEffortless / Affordable / Worthwhile

I amStress-freeConvenient / Consistent / Seamless

I amValuedTransparent / Sustainable / Rewarding

I amEngagedIntuitive / Interactive / Therapeutic

The design solution

A smart cart that carries
the whole shopping trip.

The desired-experience framework became a connected in-store companion. It reduces navigation effort, keeps decisions informed, and preserves one continuous journey from list to checkout.

ConnectedSmart cartPlan / Navigate / Decide / Complete

01 / Satisfied

Plan the trip

Synchronize the shopping list and turn it into an organized route.

02 / Stress-free

Navigate the store

Guide people to products while keeping trip progress visible.

03 / Valued

Decide with context

Bring price, nutrition, alternatives, sustainability, and offers into reach.

04 / Engaged

Complete in one flow

Connect rewards, checkout, and the final cart-to-car handoff.

Research defined the feeling. The solution made that feeling actionable.

Actual design solution / Class concept

This is the product
we designed.

A connected smart cart combines physical support, an interactive display, automatic item scanning, navigation, product information, relevant offers, rewards, and checkout.

01 Sketch the form02 Build the 3D model03 See it in motion

Early smart-cart form exploration and concept sketches — 01 / IdeationWe began by sketching how the cart could move, support, and communicate.

The complete smart-cart design solution — 02 / 3D modelThe selected direction became a complete smart-cart form.

03 / Concept in motion

From a model
to a working category.

The supplied demonstration shows a smart cart operating in a real retail environment. It is included as adjacent commercial evidence while the exact project-to-Cust2Mate implementation relationship remains under verification.

Smart-screen design showing the connected cart experience — Interactive displayThe trip, visible in one place

Easy check-in screen from the smart-cart concept — 01
**Check in**
Scan once at the entrance and connect the trip to the cart.

Shopping list synchronized to the smart-cart display — 02
**Sync the list**
Bring the prepared shopping list onto the cart display.

Product-search interface from the smart-cart concept — 03
**Search**
Find a product without leaving the cart experience.

In-store navigation interface from the smart-cart concept — 04
**Navigate**
Turn the selected item into an efficient in-store route.

Location-aware promotional offer from the smart-cart concept — 05
**Discover offers**
Use location-aware prompts when a relevant product is nearby.

Product-detail interface from the smart-cart concept — 06
**Understand**
Show price, quantity, freshness, and nutrition at the moment of choice.

Concept direction from the class project. It is not presented as shipped Cust2Mate functionality.

The future-state trip

One experience,
from preparation to departure.

Connect

Check in and synchronize the prepared list with the cart.

Plan

Keep the shopping list visible and continuously updated.

Find

Search for a product and calculate an efficient route.

Understand

Surface product, price, freshness, and nutrition information.

Complete

Pack the trip into reusable bags through one continuous flow.

Leave

Let the cart support the final transition from store to trunk.

The people behind the wall

Six disciplines.
One shared reading of the evidence.

The team debated the notes together, built the framework together, and kept enough humor in the room to stay human through the volume.

The six-person research team behind a glass surface covered with synthesized notes — Six-person cross-disciplinary research team

A candid working moment during the project — The work between the formal moments

A board of secondary research used in the project

Evidence boundary

Research project.
Concept direction.
Commercial adjacency.

This case study presents the reviewed class research, synthesis, desired-experience framework, and smart-cart concept. The separate Cust2Mate demonstration proves that the product category exists. Sravan's exact role, specific implementation work, and the relationship between both efforts must be documented before the stories are joined.

A shopper standing with a cart outside a store

Maximizing moments. Minimizing effort.

The store is not ideal
until the shopper feels
the time was well spent.

Next case study

Exterview Design System

Ideal Experienceof a Retail Store.

What would it take for a big-box shopping trip to feel genuinely good?

Secondary research

Behavioural observation

Shopper surveys

Stakeholder mapping

Stimulus kit

Sensory cues

Interviews

Affinitization

Experience framework

Design opportunity