Target Connected Living
Smart Home Products / Innovation / Merchandising
Problem / The benefit of smart home products is unclear to busy shoppers. Insight / The industrial design of smart home products rarely communicates its purpose. Strategy / Install dedicated displays that provide vendor content and product details; test and iterate.
Role / User Experience / User Interface / Art Direction
Partners / Store Design / Innovation Dev / Guest Insights / Accessibility
Prototype: Phase 1 / Sketches, questions, and a proof of concept.
Validate / Would purchase confidence in smart home products grow if we displayed them out of the box? Each product is unique. How will they be mounted? Secure mounting brackets aren’t always the most attractive. If we power the products, will store guests expect live product demos?
Ideas / Digital Screens / Motion Detection / Powered Product Demos / Messaging & Context
Prototype: Phase 2 / Pressure test all aspects of the smart home direction by installing the experience in one Minneapolis Target store. Observe guest behavior from a distance. Conduct guest intercepts to gather reactions, expectations, and preferences. Weigh security concerns against merchandising desires.
Validate / Accessibility / Hardware / WiFi / Power access / Security / Durability / Assortment
Prototype: Phase 3 / Install proximity sensors for each product. Sensors know when a guest is within 2 feet of the display - autoplaying a video attract loop. When the guest steps up to a product, the system autoplays the vendor video. Step away? System times out and resets.
Test / Proximity Sensors / 16x4 Samsung displays / Arduino / Media Player / Vendor videos
Prototype: Phase 4 / Retool the content strategy on the large gondola screens to dramatize how mixing and matching smart products can make guest lives better.
Update: iPad interface / Paired 65” displays / Vendor Video
