7-Eleven
Making emerging retail experiences tangible.
Customer journeys, connected hardware and working prototypes, supported by a broader portfolio of mobile retail concepts.
- My role
- UX Product Design Lead · R&D Innovation Lab
- Period
- Jan 2019 – Sep 2019
- Designed for
- Retail customers & store teams
AI leadership noteConnect a store experiment to a testable question
Original approach
Helped build retail hardware prototypes using Raspberry Pi, Jetson Nano and ESP32 devices. For the entrance scent prototype, the team tested coffee and vanilla or cinnamon bakery aromas, changing delivery direction to avoid spraying customers or leaving residue on people or doors.
What could change today
Give each prototype a scenario, an expected sensor event and an associate response. Use an agent to assemble test runs from those contracts and flag mismatches for the lab team.
Workflow excerpt. The numbered steps show the same part of the journey in each version. The full project includes work beyond this comparison.
Original workflow
- Enter or identify
- Discover and select
- Review the purchase
- Complete the journey
Proposed workflow with AI
- Identify at entry and observe the arrival experience.
- Test product discovery and selection in a physical store trial.
- Compare sensor interpretations with the shopper’s actual basket.
- Complete the visit and reconcile the final receipt.
How to test the change
Run the tests in the physical store. Scent, airflow and the experience of walking through the door require observation in person.
01 / Customer & problem
The need behind the work.
Who needed this.
Customers and store associates needed emerging retail technology to fit an understandable shopping experience.
The problem to solve.
Autonomous retail connects customer identity, physical movement, computer vision and purchase completion. The experience has to make sense as one journey, even when the underlying technologies are new.
Make new retail ideas concrete enough for customers, operational partners and leadership to evaluate.
02 / My ownership
Responsibilities.
Led UX and the R&D design team, working with engineering and connected-device partners on the prototype and with the lab on the wider mobile retail concepts.
The constraint to work through.
A working store prototype had to connect software, connected hardware and physical behavior within a short delivery window.
- Enter or identify
- Discover and select
- Review the purchase
- Complete the journey
03 / Actions & delivery
How the work came together.
Led a six-person team, including three direct reports, bringing UX, software and connected hardware together in the R&D lab. Worked with legal and compliance partners on the store prototypes.
The team helped deliver a working cashierless-store prototype in under 30 days. Also established a Maker Lab for experiments using microelectronics, 3D printing and custom applications.
Helped build retail hardware prototypes using Raspberry Pi, Jetson Nano and ESP32 devices. For the entrance scent prototype, the team tested coffee and vanilla or cinnamon bakery aromas, changing delivery direction to avoid spraying customers or leaving residue on people or doors.
The broader innovation work connected mobile ordering, product discovery and store interactions across concepts including RideBox.
04 / Decisions & judgment
What carries through the design.
Prototype the whole experience.
Entry, identification, shopping and purchase completion are connected decisions. A working prototype makes the dependencies visible to the people evaluating the concept.
Connect digital design to store operations.
Hardware, software and customer behavior need to be reviewed together. The Maker Lab gave those disciplines a practical place to work.
Use continuity across mobile states.
The ordering screens carry product, price and account context between steps so each screen contributes to a larger journey.
- Enter the store
- Introduce a coffee or bakery scent
- Check exposure and residue
The product portfolio
Five products. Different retail problems.
Each project follows its own customer or associate journey, with the screens and design decisions kept together.
Autonomous Store Experience
Entry, shopping and digital receipt in a working cashierless prototype.
One App
The winning internal design competition entry and the alternatives behind it.
Sierra (SAIRA)
Connected equipment, smart trash and guided troubleshooting for store associates.
7-Voice
A spoken order connected to a visible mobile confirmation.
RideBox
Product selection, payment, receipts and customer feedback.
05 / Results & business value
What changed through the work.
A working cashierless-store prototype delivered in under 30 days and recognized by the CEO, alongside a Maker Lab for continued physical and digital experimentation.
Why it matters.
The lab made a new retail model tangible for leadership and operational partners, while the Maker Lab provided a place to continue experimenting.
06 / Reflection
Lessons for future projects.
Keep testing the complete store journey, including entry and purchase confirmation, rather than treating a successful technical demonstration as the whole customer experience.
Let’s talk about your next chapter.
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