Setara Singh

The goal

Re-design the experience of shopping for a tires and wheels package online, for a large Canadian retailer.

The goal of the re-design was to create a more natural and flexible process for shoppers, allowing them to shop freely, but anticipating what they want to do next.

The business goals were to:

• Increase the frequency of tires and wheels purchased together

• Increase cart size

• Reduce the frequency of customers purchasing tires and wheels that don't fit together

• Reduce the number of steps/clicks in the purchase path

• Introduce product options earlier in the shopping flow.

My Role

For this project, I conducted two usability tests to investigate how customers shop for tires and wheels together. I worked with another UX/UI Designer to re-design the purchase path for Tires & Wheels Packages based on customer research and business requirements. We both worked through initial wireframes and the majority of the final UI designs were done by the UX/UI designer. All work was overseen by the Usability Manager.

The approach

I started by looking at the current shopping experience for tires and wheels, as well as competitor sites. In addition to identifying usability issues and learning about the eTires market, I wanted to learn more about how customers shop for tires and wheels, and what their top considerations and frustrations are. 

There were many business considerations and technical requirements/limitations, and I knew very little about the online tires business. I worked closely with the managers and developers on the Automotive team, and benefited greatly from their knowledge and expertise.

Customer Research

I conducted two usability tests: one on CanadainTire.ca, and one on 1010Tires.com. Each test had nine participants. All participants had purchased tires and wheels for their own vehicle within the last 6 months. They were asked to describe their previous purchase, and to talk about their top considerations and any frustrations they experienced. They were then asked to shop for tires and wheels for their vehicle on each site, separately.

Findings

Many participants didn't understand the benefits of a Tire & Wheel Package option.

On Canadian Tire's site, users were given a clear option to shop for a Tires & Wheels Package, but the option was less obvious on 1010Tires and some users missed it. However, neither site did a good job of letting users know the benefits of shopping for a Tires & Wheels Packages. Not many users understood that tires and wheels that fit their vehicle won't necessarily fit each other, and that shopping for a Tires & Wheels Package ensures proper fit between the tire and the wheel. Some users thought the benefit of shopping for a "package" was discounted "bundle pricing".

Recommedation

Communicate clearly to customers that shopping for a Tires & Wheels Package ensures proper fit between tires and wheels. Also, if a user shops for tires, and then decides to shop for wheels (or vice versa), ask them if they want to make it a package, so the tires and wheels will fit together.

Some participants were tire-focused, and some were wheel-focused.

Many test participants were looking for winter tires, with specific performance needs in mind, but some wanted to buy wheels, for more aesthetic purposes. (The focus tends to shift to tires in the winter months and wheels in the summer months). After choosing the package option, users on the Canadian Tire site were given the choice to start with a tire or a wheel. On 1010Tires.com, they were brought directly to the search results page for wheels, which didn't work for some users.

Recommendation

Give users the option to start shopping for either a tire or a wheel.

Users generally didn't understand if buying installation hardware was mandatory or optional.

Hardware, like lug nuts, hub rings and TPMS (Tire Pressure Monitoring System), are typically required to install wheels on a vehicle. However, some customers can use the existing hardware from their old wheels and don't require new hardware.

Recommendation

Communicate to users why installation hardware is recommended, but don't force them to purchase hardware or automatically add it to their cart.

Users had trouble understanding the hardware page on Canadian Tire, and didn't like that hardware was automatically added to their cart on 1010Tires.

Canadian Tire shows recommended hardware on a separate "pre-cart" page where users can add them to cart. Some users thought the hardware page was actually the cart page, and were disoriented. Many users were shown a page where all recommended hardware was out of stock, and they were unable to proceed. Some users were unsure of how to interact with this page, and were not able to move on until they selected "yes" or "no" for each product. 

On 1010Tires, hardware was automatically added to the cart with the tires and wheels package. Although this didn't create as much friction as on the Canadian Tire site, users didn't like that products were added to cart without their consent.

Recommendation

Re-think the hardware page on Canadian Tire's website. Eg. When to introduce hardware options, how to communicate why hardware may be needed, how many product options to display, and how to handle products that are out of stock. (The solution should not include automatically adding products to cart.)

Canadian Tire's current packages flow lacks flexibility and appropriate feedback.

On Canadian Tire's packages flow, the "Add to Package" button does not add products to cart, but saves them to be added once the package is complete. Only after users add a tire and a wheel to their package, and hardware has been added or skipped, are the products finally added to the cart. If users navigate away before completing the package, any products they've chosen so far are lost and they must start a new package from scratch. There is currently no warning when users leave the packages flow, or when users remove an item that belongs to a package from their cart.

Recommendation

Add products to cart as customers select them, instead of at the the very end of the flow. When customers navigate away from the packages flow, tell them that they are about to abandon the process, but that the products they've already chosen are in their cart.