Reimagining the car showroom experience with a phygital app
The digital innovation arm of the motorcycle manufacturer, TVS Motor, wanted to create a B2B2C product to shake up the automobile retail space.
From this base, we conceptualised 6 individual products across the 5 main points of the car buying journey.
This case study only shows the showroom part of the suite of apps we created, and focuses on my design approach.
Timeline
2021 -2022
What we shipped
A POC tablet app for car showroom.
My Role
Lead Designer
SKILLS
Research
Rapid Prototyping
UX/UI Design
Context
The digital innovation arm of the motorcycle manufacturer, TVS Motor, wanted to create a B2B2C product to shake up the automobile retail space.
From this base, we conceptualised 6 individual products across the 5 main points of the car buying journey.
This case study focuses on the showroom part of the suite of apps we created.
Disclaimer: My team was not affiliated to BMW. We worked with local dealers and used a BMW 520 as a POC model.
Research
Based on secondary research and interviews with buyers, salespeople, and dealers, we realised that in order for the product to succeed, dealers and salespeople needed more than better customer experience.
We thus focused on creating a versatile product that could be used a sales engagement tool, self-service solution at roadshows, and learning guide for new vehicles.
Exploring Possibilities
To design for a new experience in the showroom, we conducted various ideation activities like group brainstorming, bodystorming and onsite prototyping.
The tablet quickly emerged as the format of choice as as its portability suited the fluidity of a car viewing experience, it provided enough screen space to be seen from an arm's length, and it was at affordable price point for car dealers.
Building around Phyigital Exploration
Fundamental to the interaction design was encouraging car buyers to make full use of the car in front of them, while taking advantage of what a digital medium could offer.
With this direction, we tried several approaches, such as supporting feature discovery through digital and physical means, and enabling people to see how the car would behave under different scenarios.
Deal Negotiation
To better support salespeople through their showroom sales process, we incorporated features to aid the deal negotiation process into the showroom app.
In this part of the journey, the UI was switched to light to facilitate financial discussions, project a sense of transparency, but also adapt to the change in physical environment.
Outcome
The POC was well-received by our partners and car buyers, but we stopped development due to the lack of scalability.
Building on the lessons learnt, we pivoted to other products, such as a customised digital brochure and a CRM for salespeople.
