experience reinvents
about the work
Back in 2017, Target made a bold decision to reinvest $7 Billion into overhauling its stores and its e-commerce operations over the course of several years. This was also the year that I joined the brand, so it was a very exciting time to be a part of the work that went into reimagining the guest experience.
From launching new owned brands to remodeling hundreds of stores, we were looking at ways to get ahead of the market with reinvented in-store experiences. Within Home, this work focused on three key businesses: Bedding, Furniture, and Kitchen.
The following represents my work on these projects (in that order).
bedding reinvent
Bedding Reinvent was a proof-of-concept which amplified Target’s owned brand bedding collections. We leveraged the space to speak to sleep as a cornerstone of well-being.
Casaluna was a new brand launching in tandem with this project, so we anchored the overall experience to a Casaluna brand shop - integrating greenery and fragrance into the bedding space. We created new fixtures, lowered shelving for better sight-lines across the floor-pad, integrated wood elements throughout, and merchandised the entire space by-brand, allowing the guest to shop by aesthetic.
Here is a look at how I approached the project.
initial ideation
Once I receive the merchant strategy for a project, I begin by starting with the high-level zoning for the floor-pad. This allows me to approach the work from the perspective of the customer journey within the store and consider various visual impact areas, strike-points, and sight-lines.
For this project, we were looking for a way to balance inspiration and ease: the emotional (which updates seasonally) and the educational (the core inline businesses which update once per year). After I establish several viable options, I move onto bringing the conceptual guest view to life through illustrations. I build-out a presentation and starting to seek feedback from cross-functional partners in order to determine the best path forward. I present multiple approaches because we’re still in the conceptual phase of the work-stream and this gives greater flexibility as I begin to navigate feedback.
Scroll through my initial concepts for this project:
refined concept
After the initial work went through Merchants, Planners, Store Operations, Store Design, Fixture Design, and In-Store Marketing, the concepts narrowed into one finalized concept. We built-out the floor-pad in 3D software to validate fit and began programming product categories throughout the space to ensure the plan was financially sound.
final presentation
Time to build-out the experience in the Mock Store!
This is where we finalize merchandising tactics, pressure-test in-store marketing components, host leadership walk-throughs, align teams, and photograph for store communication. For this project we even brought guests through the space and interviewed them for feedback before finalizing things.
Scroll through some of my favorite parts of the final experience:
before & after
Here is a look at the in-store experience today (left) and the reinvented experience (right).
Note: Bedding Reinvent’s roll-out to stores was paused due to the pandemic.
furniture reinvent
Furniture Reinvent was a proof-of-concept which amplified Target’s owned brand furniture portfolio while extending the aisle; integrating the in-store experience with the digital experience.
An interactive touch-screen and QR codes integrated within style vignettes drove shoppers to purchase on the app. We anchored the in-store experience to vignettes - a Threshold dining room and a Project 62 living room - flanked with grab-and-go furniture, while a chair wall created a destination at the back of the floor-pad.
Here is a look at how I approached the project.
initial ideation
The existing in-store space for furniture (inclusive of grab-and-go, box stock, and folding) is quite large, so there was great flexibility when working through initial concepts. The merchant objectives for the project included getting credit for Target’s owned brands, eliminating box stock from the sales floor, integrating digital, and to explore the possibility of swatching.
These are my initial concepts for Furniture Reinvent.
refined concept
This was an interesting project because the mapping of the space happened in tandem with the physical build, which was refined through collaboration with Merchants, Planners, Store Operations, Store Design, Fixture Design, and In-Store Marketing. The initial concepts narrowed into this finalized concept while ensuring the approach was financially sound.
We also partnered with Target’s Augmented Reality team to work through digital integration options. This is the team that makes the site’s 360-degree rooms, so they had a lot of 3D rendered samples available to work with. After exploring various options, the team recommended an interactive touch-screen which enabled the customer to swipe through furniture categories, orbit any item in any direction, and send themselves a link to purchase (insights informed us that customer’s prefer to purchase on their own device).
final presentation
Time to finalize the experience in the Mock Store!
This is where we finalize merchandising tactics, pressure-test in-store marketing components, host leadership walk-throughs, align teams, and photograph for store communication.
Scroll through some of my favorite parts of the final experience:
before & after
Here is a look at the in-store experience today (left) and the reinvented experience (right).
Note: Furniture Reinvent’s roll-out was paused due to operational concerns regarding test store stock room constraints.
kitchen reinvent
Kitchen Reinvent was a new experience for Target’s Next-Generation stores and was integrated into the remodel program between 2017 and 2018.
This created a completely new shopping experience by re-positioning kitchen to a physical corner of the store. New fixtures, better sight-lines, and a focal wall at the back of the floor-pad allowed us to lean into curated story-telling throughout. One of our objectives for this project was to utilize the credibility of national brands to enhance Target’s owned brands in this space.
Although the company shifted the remodel strategy in 2019 - ending Kitchen Reinvent - the experience still exists in over 130 stores.
Here is a look at our initial set and some of my work associated with the project.
initial ideation
We rolled the Kitchen Reinvent experience to stores without ever testing it - these were the days before we even had a Mock Store - so we had to iterate multiple times (especially once we started to get financial reads on this store segment).
Scroll through some of my initial concepts for this project:
final presentation
Once we started to get financial reads, we were able to react with item-level shifts across the space to increase productivity.
We were able to leverage our downtown store to modify presentations and host leadership walk-throughs to align teams and photograph for store communication.
Scroll through some of my favorite parts of the final project:
before & after
Here is a look at the in-store experience today (left) and the reinvented experience (right).
