The OPPORTUNITY

David Jones identified a strategic vision to target a new customer segment: the younger demographic. It was important to David Jones to design a mobile app that stands out, attracts and retains customers, integrates with physical stores, and improves the current online shopping experience.
‍‍
Ippon was selected to partner with David Jones to assist with the end-to-end delivery of the mobile app.

A mobile app would allow David Jones to tap into a significant market opportunity. The company’s sales were driven by physical retail stores and an aging website. Although the brand has been well-established in Australia since 1838, it has only been present in New Zealand since 2018. Its reliance on legacy systems presented challenges in keeping up with modern trends due to technical debt.

A key challenge was creating an app that differentiated the brand from competitors and remained relevant in a crowded market. The app had to appeal to new customer segments while retaining the existing loyalty base. The app had to be integrated smoothly with both physical stores and online interactions as part of the seamless omnichannel experience. Finally, the app had to address and resolve current issues with the web shopping experience to enhance overall user satisfaction.

The Solution

The app aims to eliminate existing points of friction and move towards a unified 360° view of customers across all channels, including a streamlined shopping experience. This will enable true personalisation and localisation.
‍
We began by engaging key stakeholders through workshops and interviews to assess the current landscape and identify opportunities. A competitive analysis informed our initial e-commerce design concepts, which were validated through sentiment testing. Insights from these tests drove iterative design improvements, while usability testing and real-time adjustments ensured alignment with user preferences, business goals, and technical feasibility.

Ippon leveraged best practice principles to accelerate speed to value and deliver maximum value for David Jones. Our solutions feature:

A streamlined shopping and checkout experience with an intuitive design that makes navigation effortless.
Personalisation at the heart of the app, providing tailored recommendations based on individual user preferences and behaviours.
Robust localisation features will bridge the gap between online and in-store shopping experiences, enhancing customer satisfaction.

This approach enabled us to mitigate risks before launch and positioned David Jones to lead the market with an innovative app that delivers exceptional value and long-term success.

The Outcome

To prepare for the public app launch, the team has planned to launch in phases:

A soft launch for employees and friends/family to gather initial feedback and conduct thorough testing.
Implement feedback from the soft launch and iterate.
Dark launch in October 2024, followed by the hard launch of the app MVP in November 2024.
Continue to iterate based on the voice of the customer (VOC) feedback loop.

Based on our extensive sentiment and usability testing, we believe:

Users will find the app easy to use and aesthetically attractive
Users will desire a more personalised shopping experience*
Users find shopping via the app to be convenient

Overall we expect increased customer satisfaction, increased uptake of features, increased revenue and improved conversion rates.
‍

* Tailored personalisation has been identified as a top opportunity, however has not been included as a part of the initial MVP launch

Experience Design & Product

We put the “wow” in WOWEE! Championing your business in delivering seamless and integrated digital experiences through a technology-led approach. Delivering a balanced approach of desirability, feasibility and viability — we work with you in advising up, executing down and rippling out experiences that leave your users wanting more.

Software Engineering & Cloud

CLOUD NATIVE IS HERE TO STAY: Software Engineering & Cloud are very much intertwined capabilities. You can’t build modern, flexible software, as a Software Engineer, without an understanding the power, and peril, offered by Cloud computing.

Data Driven Architectures