Associate Mobile Redesign
Toshiba ELERA®platform powers unified in-store experiences worldwide. During my internship, I was tasked with redesigning the Associate Mobile App, a critical tool that associates rely on during checkout.
IMPACT
Improved operational efficiency and boosted checkout speed
+43%
Boosted checkout speed
to improve associates' operational efficiency-58%
Decreased cart abandonment
leads to increased customer satisfaction+18%
Increase in monthly revenue
from improved operational efficiencyPROBLEM
Why this problem?
Retailers using Toshiba lose revenue during peak hours when carts are abandoned or customers switch to competitors costing stores lost sales each year.
15–20%
Revenue at risk
Peak-hour loss from cart abandonment & switching$50–$100M
Retailer scale
Mid-sized annual revenue band$7.5–$20M
Lost sales annually
Estimated yearly lost sales at mid-sized scaleDoes the problem actually exist?
To gain deeper insights into the problem, I conducted an in-store survey with customers and shoppers assistants to quantify perspectives from both ends of the shopping experience.
Customers express frustration with wait times
Associates struggle with outdated tools
💡 Research Insights
Employees experience inefficiencies from outdated systems, directly impacting customer experience. Their pain points align with customers' frustration about wait times and line abandonment.
Why did stores till loss customer with both fixed lanes and mobile POS?
According to the comparison study below, mobile POS was expected to reduce queue abandonment. But our user research shows 43.3% of shoppers still abandon lines, and those shoppers do so about 25% of the time.
| Use Case | Associate Mobile | Fixed POS | Self-Checkout |
|---|---|---|---|
| Peak-hour line-busting | ⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐ | ⭐⭐ |
| Assisted selling | ⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐ | – |
| Big baskets / complex tenders | ⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐ |
| Returns with verification | ⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐ | – |
| Small Baskets | ⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐ |
Project Constraints
Limited Resources
Store’s cannot afford another fix lane POS.
Legacy System
Design within ELERA (no rebuild)
Time Pressure
8-week for discovery to implementation
Limited Resources
Store’s cannot afford another fix lane POS.Legacy System
Design within ELERA (no rebuild)Time Pressure
8-week for discovery to implementationUSER RESEARCH AND VALIDATION
Asked How might we question
HMW speed up checkout and prevent walk-aways during peak hours using the resources the store already have, without major changes?
Conducted user interview and usability testing
Objective: How store associates work during peak hours and why shoppers still walk away, even with mobile + fixed POS available?
Research Methods: Conducted 7 user interviews and usability tests using the think-aloud method to identify key pain points.
What Associates Told Us
"I miss important notifications like 'printer out of paper.' They're hard to notice."
- Shoppers Assistant
"Hidden options slow me down and customers get frustrated waiting."
- Customer Service Lead
"In a rush, the app confuses me and I void items by mistake."
- Cashier Supervisor
Objective: How store associates work during peak hours and why shoppers still walk away, even with mobile + fixed POS available?
Research Methods: Conducted 7 user interviews and usability tests using the think-aloud method to identify key pain points.
What Associates Told Us
"I miss important notifications like 'printer out of paper.' They're hard to notice."- Shoppers Assistant
"Hidden options slow me down and customers get frustrated waiting."- Customer Service Lead
"In a rush, the app confuses me and I void items by mistake."- Cashier Supervisor
Usability Test Finding
01
Visibility Issues
Critical notifications hidden
02
Navigation Issues
Competing menus break flow
03
Icon Mismatches
Icons don't match meaning
04
Error Prevention
Risky placement of void button
Visibility Issues
Critical notifications hiddenNavigation Issues
Competing menus break flowIcon Mismatches
Icons don't match meaningError Prevention
Risky placement of void button
Solution
Based on our research and collaboration, I developed a comprehensive redesign of the Associate Mobile app that addressed the key pain points identified during peak hours.
LEARNINGS
Growing with the Team
Working so closely with my team taught me how powerful collaboration can be. We pushed each other to grow and adapt, and that foundation shaped how I approached every new challenge afterward even as the projects got bigger, the same collaborative spirit guided me.
Iterative design through
Design critique
Collaborative problem-solving
Feedback from Engineers
Design–business alignment
Used data to justify design decisions