A 13-week sprint to success (and a brand-new digital assistant)

One of the world’s largest fashion brands, with more than 120,000 employees and a 140-plus year history of quality, enlisted 3Pillar Global to bring a product to life that would drive in-store sales and increase revenue. They had an idea for a mobile app for their store associates, and they were looking for a partner who could help bring their vision to life.

Unbeknownst to us, they also had been having an internal debate about whether we — or anyone for that matter — could help them ideate, conceive, design, and iteratively develop an MVP in just 13 weeks.

The retailer wanted to explore what the best way would be for store associates to provide shoppers with timely, accurate information about inventory. Associates’ lack of access to this information often left customers waiting in the wings while they searched through a maze of apparel to find the right garment. In our increasingly fast-paced world, this wait can make the difference between completing a sale — or not. And with online purchasing encroaching more and more on in-store sales, the retailer sought innovative new ways of making sure associates, and thereby customers, could get real-time information about what products were currently available.

3Pillar worked hand-in-hand with the client team as we prototyped and refined our way through 5 iterations of an MVP that came to be known as their Digital Assistant. Through a combination of user interviews (12), in-store visits (2), feature prioritization exercises (1, which was very important), and rapid development sprints (6, including 60 new builds), we were able to identify the five most important features for the Digital Assistant to have at launch. Zeroing in on the most useful and desirable features for an MVP, out of the entire universe of possibilities, is one of the most valuable parts of the entire process.

The Digital Assistant product that we co-created settled the debate over whether a successful app can be conceived, prototyped, and developed in just over 3 months. The answer? A resounding “Yes.” This accelerated timeline was accomplished in no small part due to the rapid prototyping that was conducted on the heels of user interviews. Within 48 hours of user interviews, we were sharing paper prototypes with the retailer, which helped influence and inform what the finished product would become.

Immediately at launch, Digital Assistant was a hit with the retailer’s team and their associates. They loved the fact that it helped them provide an improved customer experience to shoppers, as well as its ease of use and utility. Associates could be trained on how to use the app in 5 minutes. And the first trainee who got her hands on it was using it to help customers within 3 minutes.

All in all, the engagement was a huge win for everyone.

Why isn’t this app in all our stores?

– Fashion Brand Chairman & CEO after witnessing the app we ideated and built in action