Alfred24 Smart Locker
In-depth B2C / B2B user market research & Service blueprint
Alfred24 is a tech-logistics company specialised in automated parcel lockers and software solutions to make deliveries sustainable, efficient, and convenient for everyone. They provide plug & play and scalable logistics solutions that multiply the efficiency of a single courier.
Role
UX / Service Designer
Duty
Service Design
User Research
Market research
Project Management
Tool
Google Doc
Google Slide
Team
Service Designer (me)
Logistic Worker*2
Marketing Manager
Project Manager
Project Goals
Alfred24 wants to explore the potentials of the B2C market, as they received feedback regarding hygiene, configuration and usage options. These could be new services for B2C users.
On the other hand, Alfred24 wants to dive deep into the B2B market for their future development. Not only the residence based smart locker, but also in commercial building and management offices. The primary goals can be addressed as:
🎯 New services on B2C product
🎯 Business plan on B2B market
Aligning Timeline
WEEK ONE 📅
Draft interviewee message
Research competitors / good-case referenceS
Gather and consolidate ideas from Alfred and SMEs
Define product hypotheses and questions to vertify
WEEK TWO 📅
Complete user interview questions
Finish drafting the b2c questionnaire
Complete 2 residential building user interviews
Draft “future press release”
Start drafting user journey maps (current status)
WEEK THREE 📅
Conduct user interviews
Review draft user journey maps
Draft user personas of b2b audience
Schedule b2c user interviews
Confirm research matches up with the hypotheses
WEEK four 📅
Complete b2b user interviews, b2c and b2b user personas
Brainstorm and start drafting experience map for Alfred Concierge
WEEK five 📅
Consolidate research, update customer journey maps
Draft product goals and milestones
Draft product and feature requirements
WEEK six 📅
Finalize customer journey maps, product goals and milestones, product and feature requirements
Cleanup all the deliverables
Besides handling service design, I also acted as the project manager to ensure everyone stayed on the same page with timelines and weekly deliverables.
Business Insights
Start - Subscription
For management offices / new property development
Covers: maintenance, software installation, user manual etc.
It is multi-year based contract on monthly / annual basis
Supports current and new business model (pick to pay & order directly)
Ongoing - Establishing relationship with management offices
Subscription Tier with upgrade choices e.g. locker footprint, replacing letterbox
Build a good reputation among the industry by testimonials, resident use-cases and quantifiable utilization rates
Grow business by to all districts in Hong Kong
Future - Partnership
Signing partnerships with logistics partners
Reduce cost of home deliveries
Pass cost saving to consumers
Explore the market by User Research
The user research are focused fourfold:
User journey mapping
Given Alfred24's diverse functionality in smart locker usage, the user journey will be divided based on specific functions. Additionally, this journey involves 4 distinct stakeholders which are: End user, Merchants, Logistics and Alfred24.
User Interview (B2B)
We have summarized some insights from B2B clients as the following:
Size matter the most
As size determine parcel delivery efficiency, this become the highest priority.Nice to have: Mobile-controlling features
Hands-free control is efficient to receive latest information and keep hygiene during the pandemic period.Flexible Pricing Model
For example 6-months term, Assign-to-use gives more flexible options to management officers.
User Interview (B2C)
When speaking of B2C users’ expectations, majority of them show their interest in location, price and hygiene:
Indoor location with network
This could ensuring the ability to retrieve parcels regardless of the weather conditions.Flexible price
Rent-to-use, monthly subscription, integration with more logistics firms to provide convenience and flexibility.Hygiene in pandemic period
B2C uses have high frequency of purchasing groceries, which leads to higher demand of storing fresh parcels (frozen meat, vegetables, dairy etc.). Hence, hygiene is critical.
Questionnaire (B2C)
I obtained an objective view of how B2C users shopping habits and living status affect the usage of smart locker. Insights from the questionnaires are as the following:
Convenience during office hours
Parcel collection during office hours is challenging, especially for full-time worker. Alfred24 lockers serve as an intermediary for storing parcels in such situations.Private properties matters
A majority of users live in private properties, granting them the authority to request the addition of smart lockers, which is also economically feasible for them.Time-saving groceries purchase
User profiles & building profiles
The research findings allow us to establish clear personas for both B2B clients and B2C users, and they also help identify specific characteristics of our target buildings.
Service blueprint
I have worked with the project manager to define stage milestones and the suggested service system for Alfred24 future development.
Future enhancement
User flow enhancement on courier and end user
On courier and end user perspectives, I have added additional details to the multiple parcels in 1 delivery and account verification process in order to improve the efficiency.
Expo
I have also outlined the opportunities that Alfred24 can capitalize on at the right juncture. Additionally, I have included details about an upcoming business opportunities expo in the strategy.
Collect Demographics
By the user research conducted above, I have suggested Alfred24 gained a comprehensive demographic of their target audience, with the behaviour pattern, living status, characteristics and expectations. This will be very useful in future business analysis and strategy planning.