UX Case Study · Retail Experience · 2023–2024
Retail Companion
& Personal Shopper
Transforming the Verizon retail store into a collaborative, AI-powered plan-building experience — a 15" touchscreen at the collaboration table, always live-synced to POS.
My Role
Lead UX Designer · Design Owner
Touchpoint
15" Vertical Kiosk + POS
Platform
Retail Companion (RC)
Client
Verizon
15" VERTICAL · IN-STORE
67%
AI recommendation acceptance vs 38% rep-verbal baseline
+34%
Plan upgrade completion increase post redesign
+18pt
NPS improvement post Personal Shopper launch
$28M
Projected annualised revenue uplift — 50-store US pilot
01 — Overview
What is Retail Companion?
A touchscreen kiosk on the collaboration table inside every Verizon retail store — enabling real-time, collaborative plan-building between customers and store reps.
The Context
A unique in-store touchpoint
Retail Companion is a 1080×1920 portrait kiosk that physically rotates 180° on the collaboration table — facing the customer when they're exploring plans, and the rep when rep-led tasks are needed. Always live-synced to POS.
My Role
Owning the UI/UX end-to-end
Senior UX designer responsible for end-to-end experience design — designing, presenting to stakeholders, and collaborating with engineering and product throughout the SDLC, while evolving the Verizon Design System into RDS.
The Ecosystem
Two devices, one conversation
Retail Companion syncs live with the rep's POS iPad. Plan changes, upgrade eligibility, and AI recommendations all flow in real-time between both screens — one seamless shared session at the collaboration table.
The Innovation
Personal Shopper — AI-powered plans
I designed Personal Shopper, an intelligent quote engine integrated into RC and POS — analysing current plan, usage, and household to surface the best upgrade path with transparent, editable rationale.
In-Store Ecosystem
Every touchpoint — one connected experience.
RC doesn't sit alone. Understanding how it connects to every other touchpoint was essential before designing a single screen.
Primary
🖥️
Retail Companion
15" vertical portrait. Customer-facing. Rotates 180°. Centrepiece of the collaboration table.
📱
POS — Point of Sale
Rep's iPad. Admin controls, account data, transactions. Synced live with RC. Personal Shopper integrated here too.
📺
39" Ambient Display
Wall-mounted brand storytelling screen — part of the store's digital ecosystem.
🪑
Collaboration Table
Physical anchor of the RC experience. Side-by-side, not across a counter.
📲
My Verizon App
Post-visit changes made on RC reflect here. RC must align with app-level patterns.
🤝
Rep + Customer
RC is designed for both simultaneously — one screen serving two very different needs at the same time.
02 — Store Context
Inside the Verizon Store.
Understanding the physical environment was essential. The collaboration table is the centrepiece of the store — and Retail Companion lives at its heart.
Architectural floor plan · store digital touchpoints · 3D scale model — all used during store research to locate RC at the collaboration table.
Verizon Store 360°
Walk the store floor.
An interactive 360° walkthrough of an actual Verizon NextGen store — the physical environment RC was designed for.
Verizon Store 360° — open verizon.com/virtualstore directly if the embed doesn't load
Store Visit Photography
NextGen store visits — NYC & Dallas.
In-person documentation from Bryant Park NYC, Lexington Ave NYC, and Grapevine Dallas TX.
Bryant Park & Lexington Ave NYC
03 — The Devices
Two screens, one conversation.
Understanding the physical environment was essential. The collaboration table is the centrepiece of the store — and Retail Companion lives at its heart.
⟳ 180° Rotation
Retail companion in a Verizon store sitting on the collaboration table.
The usefulness of 180° rotation is that the customer gets full visibility and control of their plans, and the rep can set up the session or flip as and when required.
Customers can also use most of the non-login features on the Retail Companion independently.
Retail Companion (Customer) ↔ 180° ↔ Point of Sales — POS (Representative). Quote shared live between both screens.
RC — 15" vertical portrait on the collaboration table
Screen Size
15" Vertical
Resolution
1080×1920
Rotation
180° Customer ↔ Rep
Sync
Real-time POS
Key Constraint
The screen sits between rep and customer — not behind a counter. Every tap target, font size, and reading distance decision was driven by this physical setup.
04 — Research & Discovery
Grounded in the store.
Every design decision traces back to a specific finding from store observations, customer interviews, or rep feedback sessions.
🛒
Customers want guidance — not a pitch
68% of in-store visitors came for human guidance, but 54% reported feeling "sold to." RC needed to feel neutral and customer-controlled.
68% sought genuine advice
⏱️
Reps spend 40% of time switching screens
Toggling between POS, printed plan sheets, and verbal narration destroyed conversation flow. A shared live screen changed everything.
40% time lost to context-switching
🤖
AI only trusted when contextual
Generic AI quotes triggered 72% negative sentiment. When recommendations cited actual usage and tenure, trust jumped 41 points.
72% distrust generic AI quotes
📊
Transparency seeds better conversations
Showing customers their current plan data first increased session length 26% and improved upgrade acceptance significantly.
+26% session length
UXR Interview Q&A
Customer + Rep Sessions
Customers: Did the kiosk feel made for you or for the rep?
Most customers initially said it felt like a rep tool — information was dense and terminology unfamiliar. After the redesign, post-launch sessions showed a strong shift: customers described the screen as 'showing my stuff', feeling more like a mirror of their account than a sales terminal.
Customers: How did seeing your current plan change the conversation?
Customers who saw their current plan first were significantly more engaged — they asked more questions, challenged recommendations, and felt the conversation was grounded in their reality. The plan data acted as an anchor: 'Oh I'm paying that much? Tell me more about this upgrade.'
Customers: Did Personal Shopper feel like genuine advice or a sales pitch?
Early versions without rationale cards scored poorly — 'it just wants me to spend more.' Once we added the 'Why we recommend this' card referencing actual usage data and tenure, responses shifted dramatically. The transparent rationale was the single most impactful change.
Customers: Was there a moment you felt more — or less — in control?
Less in control: when the rep typed something and the screen changed without explanation. More in control: when they could tap through plans themselves, dismiss AI suggestions, or compare options side by side. This drove the decision to make RC independently explorable.
Reps: How has the collab table changed how you open conversations?
Reps consistently said they now lead with the screen rather than explaining verbally. 'I just show them their account and let them react' — this changed the dynamic from a pitch to a consultation.
Reps: Does the AI Quote rationale card help or complicate your pitch?
Universally positive from reps — 'it does half my job.' The rationale card gave reps a defensible, data-backed talking point they could reference rather than making claims themselves. Feedback on timing fed directly into the logic for when Personal Shopper surfaces.
05 — Design Process
How we got from brief to build.
Multi-sprint delivery across a 12-month engagement, anchored in agile with continuous research and validation loops.
01
Discovery
Understand the ecosystem
Store visits across NYC and Dallas, rep shadowing, customer intercept interviews, existing system audit.
Store Visits
Rep Shadowing
Stakeholder Interviews
02
Definition
Problem framing & strategy
Synthesised research into design principles. North star: "Customer-controlled, AI-augmented, rep-supported."
Synthesis
Design Principles
PO Alignment
03
Design
Wireframes → High Fidelity
Lo-fi flows to pixel-perfect Figma comps. Extended Verizon Design System into RDS for the 15" kiosk.
Wireframes
VDS → RDS
Figma HiFi
Full System Map
Mapping the RC experience before designing anything.
RC, POS, backend services, and all user flow intersections.
Full system map — RC touchpoints, POS connections, backend data flows, user journey intersections
04
Validation
Prototype testing & iteration
Usability sessions with store staff and recruited customers. 4 iterations on AI Quote entry point alone.
Usability Testing
A/B Concepts
Iteration
05
Delivery
Dev handoff & VQA
Dev walkthrough sessions, component specs, edge case annotations. Led VQA on non-prod across multiple sprint releases.
Dev Handoff
Annotations
VQA
New flow — Add a Line with Personal Shopper AI Quote. 4 iterations to get the AI entry point right.
The old Plan Builder was built for the representative's workflow, not the customer's understanding. I redesigned it so the customer is always the primary user of the screen in front of them.
How might we…
Make customers feel in control
Build AI trust through transparency
Enable guidance without pressure
Surface the right upgrade at the right moment
Design Decisions
The tradeoffs that shaped the product.
Phase
Challenge
Decision
Impact
Discovery
Information Architecture
Existing IA was rep-centric. Customer account data buried 3 levels deep — reps narrated verbally.
Restructured IA around the customer journey. Admin functions moved to POS.
Conversation quality ↑
Design
AI Quote Framing
Early Personal Shopper felt like an upsell popup. Customers dismissed before reading.
Named rationale cards, usage-data references, savings call-out before any upgrade prompt.
67% acceptance
Design
180° Rotation UX
Screen rotates but UI didn't account for it. Customer-view content confusing when rep-facing.
Two distinct UI states — customer mode (simplified) and rep mode (data-dense).
Rep efficiency +22%
Validation
Plan Comparison
Customers couldn't compare current vs. recommended plan — confusion and drop-off.
Split-view with delta indicators showing exactly what changes and what's gained.
+34% upgrade completion
Delivery
VDP Flow
Voluntary Down Payment had no UX entry point — offered verbally, causing confusion.
Dedicated VDP drawer with plain-language explanation and interactive calculator.
Rep explanation time ↓
06 — Personal Shopper AI
The feature that changed the game.
Personal Shopper (AI Quote) is integrated directly into RC and POS — not a separate touchpoint. It generates a personalised upgrade quote at exactly the right moment in the in-store journey.
Design Challenge
Make AI feel like advice, not a pitch.
Every decision was about threading one needle: Verizon needed to drive business, but customers needed to feel in control.
🎯
Contextual, not generic
Every recommendation cites actual plan, usage, and tenure.
🔍
Transparent rationale
Rationale cards show exactly why each suggestion was made.
💡
Savings-first framing
The quote leads with what the customer gains. Business value follows.
🤝
Rep-augmenting, not replacing
AI Quote is a conversation tool. The rep still owns the relationship.
Primary RC Screens
The Personal Shopper quote — main states.
Quote Main Screen
The main Personal Shopper view — current monthly, estimated new monthly, due today, and itemised savings with upgrade recommendations for each line on the account.
POS — Connected Quote
Personal Shopper integrated into POS too.
I designed both sides of this connected experience. The rep's POS mirrors the quote with enhanced controls — adding lines, adjusting perks, confirming transactions.
POS · Personal Shopper
Perfect Bundle — Default State
AI-generated bundle on rep's POS with Customer Bio, line data, perks discovery, and savings summary.
POS · Multi-line
Multi-line — Adding Second Quote
Rep adds a second line on POS. RC updates in real-time — one shared truth.
Flow Walkthrough
6 steps: Adding a new line through Personal Shopper.
Step 01
Personal Shopper surfaces
Step 02
Quote + rationale viewed
Step 03
Plan selection + pricing
Step 04
Port-in / new number
Step 05
Perks & add-ons
Step 06
Quote confirmed → POS
07 — UI Screens
Every screen, designed for the collaboration table.
All screens optimised for 15" vertical portrait — arm's-reach touch, dual-user reading distance, retail ambient brightness.
Plans
Popular Plans
Pricing
Pricing Guide
Add Line
Add a Line Drawer
Port-in
Port-in Drawer
Account
Remove a Line
VDP
Voluntary Down Payment
POS
POS Rep View A
POS
POS Rep View B
Official product render — Retail Companion in Verizon brand context
08 — Design System
VDS → RDS: Extending Monarch for retail.
Verizon's Monarch design system governs all digital touchpoints. For RC I extended it into a Retail Design System — purpose-built for 15" touch, portrait layout, and high-ambient-light environments.
What is VDS / Monarch?
Verizon Design System (VDS/Monarch) governs typography, colour, components, motion, and accessibility across all digital touchpoints. For RC, I extended VDS into RDS — adapting all components for 15" touch, larger tap targets, high-ambient-light readability, and the portrait-vertical constraint unique to the kiosk.
09 — Outcomes & Impact
What shipped. What changed.
Results from the 50-store US pilot — customer acceptance, rep efficiency, and business impact.
67%
AI Recommendation Acceptance
Nearly double the 38% rep-verbal baseline. Contextual framing and transparent rationale were the decisive design decisions.
+34%
Plan Upgrade Completion
Increased 34% across pilot stores. Split-view plan comparison was the single highest-impact design decision.
+18pt
NPS Improvement
Customers cited feeling "understood" and "not pressured" — exactly the design intent of Personal Shopper.
$28M
Projected Revenue Uplift
From the 50-store pilot, extrapolated across the US retail footprint. Driven by upgrade completion, new lines, and VDP uptake.
Reflections
What I'd do differently. What I'd double down on.
🧠
AI trust is earned, not designed
The rationale card worked in testing but some users skipped it. I'd invest more in motion and progressive disclosure to slow the AI reveal — trust needs time to build.
🔄
The 180° UX needed more time
Dual-mode screen was right conceptually but the transition UX was underdesigned. I'd prototype the physical rotation interaction much earlier.
📐
RDS was the right call
Extending VDS into a retail-specific system paid off — component reuse was high and dev handoff was smoother. I'd formalise RDS as standalone governance from the start.
10 — Recognition
Recognised by Verizon leadership.
Two Certificates of Recognition from Jyotsna Malhotra, Associate Director – Experience Design, Customer Experience Organisation.
