Grandrabbit’s Toy Shoppe
Role: UX Designer
Date: March 2024
Duration: Three-Week Sprint
Location: General Assembly UX Intensive
Student Project: E-commerce Redesign
Small Business: Surviving in an Amazon World
Neighboring our local grocery store was a cute toy store. My sister and I incessantly begged our mom to visit the toy store every time we went grocery shopping. I was most interested in the real dollhouse furniture. I desperately wanted a bed for our Barbie house. At the time, Skipper was sleeping on a tissue box covered in construction paper. It was a creative solution but I wanted a bed frame. Eventually, my mom broke down and we rushed into the store. It was magical! Floor-to-ceiling toys! Target had a toy section, but this place was dedicated to toys only. I wore down my mom and she purchased the bed. It was way too small for Skipper but it was real and I loved it. I am surprised that this toy store visit and purchase is such a vivid memory. These special places are disappearing as e-commerce nears perfection, competitors can supply customers faster and cheaper and consumer productivity wins over time spent shopping outside the home. But in Boulder, Colorado, there is a mighty gem beating the odds. However, it must make some changes to ensure its legacy.
Established in 1977, Grandrabbit’s Toy Shoppe is a beloved staple in Boulder, Colorado. In the middle of its tenure, the internet was born and e-commerce took the world by storm. Amazon.com fine-tuned the art of online shopping resulting in lower prices and fast delivery. Grandrabbit’s joined the e-commerce arena by building a website. Today’s version may be an early iteration as it appears dated and limps along functionally. To ensure its legacy continues, the Grandrabbit’s e-commerce website must be redesigned. To do so, we must first understand its customers, setting and ever-changing business environment.
Grandrabbits Toy Shoppe
Foundress Lynne Milot opened the toy store in October 1977. The toy industry was composed of giants: Mattel, Hasbro and Fisher Price. She had to compete against huge corporations: FAO Schwarz, KB Toys and Toys “R” Us. But, Boulder was a town that treasured local small businesses. Within this challenging environment, this underdog was driven by her business’s values:
Philosophy: to make all children a global priority
Goal: Be a catalyst for positive social change.
Commitment: provide high-quality playthings that contribute to a child’s learning & development.
Considering Boulder and its residents, I interviewed seven multigenerational participants with kids. Six women were Caucasian, and one woman was Indian. A key target user group was unintentionally excluded from the user research: males. Due to project time constraints, this key target user group was missed. The opinions and feelings of grandpas, dads, and uncles would have been very valuable in balancing the perspectives of the women interviewed. With the data collected, we created our persona, Emilie.
Every waking hour of modern life is scheduled in the name of productivity. The resulti is a relentless quest to find balance. Technology has allowed us to do more in less time. Instead of using this “extra” time to rest or recreate, our society has embraced productivity. Invention has changed how we live. For example, the introduction and adaptation of the automobile has allowed us to travel farther and faster. For an agricultural society, replacing a horse with an automobile could lessen the need to keep the horse. If the horse were sold, horse care chores would cease and its caretaker would gain hours of “free time.” Modern people fill their waking hours with work, family, friends and fun. This full, productive life is made easier with technology. Emilie’s draw to online shopping is the gift of convenience and time.
The Internet
Lynne Milot had successfully operated Grandrabbit’s for 14 years when life as she knew it was about to change radically. In 1991, the World Wide Web became available to the public. Two years later in 1993, the first browser was introduced. Communication changed in an instant with electronic mail. I remember scanning CU Boulder’s business school computer lab and predicted, “I think this is going to change human relationships and not in a good way.” I did not anticipate that the way we shop for goods and services would also change. In July 1994, Jeff Bezos founded Amazon in his garage.
The world was changing fast and by 1996, most businesses had a website. If Lynne wanted to continue successfully operating her store, she had to join the dot com revolution and start selling toys online.
Competitive and Comparative Analysis
The internet ushered in shopping from the comfort of home. Although many of our users shared that enjoyed in-store shopping, their lives are full and therefore crave convenience. Our Competitive and Comparative Analysis examined online retailers and brick-and-mortar stores because Grandrabbit’s operates physical stores and an e-commerce website.
Competitive Analysis
As Boulder is an active town, Boulderites frequently bike and walk around town to shop and dine. They prefer to shop locally; however, soaring inflation has challenged this choice. Can I afford to support the mom-and-pop shop? I know Amazon.com will have a better price. We examined the local brick-and-mortar competitors both big box and niche shops. Other mom-and-pop shops sell toys in town. However, none exclusively specialize in toys.
Comparitive Analysis
“Why are you analyzing a grocery store, hardware store, hotel and outdoor equipment store?” The answer is proximity opportunity. GrandRabbit’s shares a parking lot with these businesses. The patrons visiting this strip mall are likely connected to kids. Here are some scenarios:
A mom needs to grocery shop and buy a child’s birthday gift. She remembers Sprouts Grocery Store and Grandrabbit’s Toy Shoppe are in the same strip mall. She accomplishes both tasks in one outing.
Grandparents visiting Boulder take their grandkids to Grandrabbit’s to buy something special. On holidays and birthdays, they remember to shop for the grandkids’ gifts on Grandrabbit’s www.grtoys.com.
People traveling to Boulder on business stay at the Marriott. They promised the kids they’d bring back a present. The front desk tells them there is a local toy store across the parking lot. The physical proximity of these businesses creates visits that may later become online shopping for future purchases.
Heuristics
We conducted a heuristic analysis of the Grandrabbit’s current website. The main challenges users experienced were related to navigation. After seven attempts to find toddler toys, one user proclaimed, “this website is stupid.” There are many reasonable categories to search for toys: interest, child’s age, brands, theme and price. When compared to competitor’s websites, three themes emerged: Appearance, categorization of items and ease of Checkout. This insight will influence the redesign.
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Dated in appearance
Typeface and color scheme
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Information Architecture & Not Minimalistic
Too ways to search items - user was overwhelmed by number of buttons
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Filter Categories
Site doesn’t “remember” prior filter choice. Must reset each time
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Efficiency and Learnability
Searches did not lead to reasonably fast success.
User’s Journey
Based on the heuristics of the current website, we anticipate that Emilie may be frustrated if she chooses to shop on Grandrabbit’s website. The journey map below chronicles Emilie’s two paths to purchasing her daughter’s birthday gift. The path of least resistance is found on www.target.com while www.grtoys.com discouraging and infuriating. The frustration led her to abandon the website.
Discovery Wrap-up
We gained a deep understanding of all the players in Grandrabbit’s world: its owner/operator, its origin story, its patrons, its hometown, its competitors, the advent of the internet and its jump into e-commerce. This insight will inform the next stage of UX design: Define and Design. The revamped website will allow customers to shop efficiently, find exactly what they are looking for quickly and retain customers who visit the website by curating a pleasant, intuitive, frictionless experience.
Define and Design
Three themes emerged begging for improvement: Appearance, categorization of items and ease of Checkout.
Navigation
The main challenge users experienced on www.grtoys.com was related to navigation. After seven attempts to find toddler toys, one user proclaimed, “This website is stupid.” There are many logical and reasonable ways to search for toys: Type. Age. Brand. Price. Interest. Theme. Grandrabbit’s current search funvtion is unpredictable resulting in frustrated users.
Although Grandrabbit’s icons are cute, life stage titles are ambiguous. Ages associated with these life stages can vary based on the individual shopper. To one shopper, a baby may be 0-2 years old. To another shopper, a toddler may be 1-3 years old. To yet another shopper, a little kid may be 3-8 years old.
Our research demonstrated that confining the search method to age or all toys will help users find what they are looking for. To narrow a search, shoppers can select from categories found in filters on the selected age-range page. Categories would include price, type, interest, brand and sale. See the image below to see filters.
Shopping by age or life stage must be defined and “exact” to conduct an effective toy search. Clear guardrails: define age brackets constrained to two-year periods instead of life stages.
With the top-level navigation categories chosen, I considered how to refine the navigation further. I paused to think of my favorite e-commerce websites. Where do I find what I want quickly and without friction? I immediately pulled up www.anthropologie.com. This women’s clothing and home store boasts unique, fun and fashionable finds that are beautifully depicted. The photos are large and the backgrounds are universal. The website is easily navigated with broad top-level navigation categories with several levels within to refine a search. I think this will work well for Grandrabbitt’s:. Within each age range, the user can refine their search with subcategories: Type, price, theme and brand. Under these subcategories, users could again refine further. The image below depicts the wireframe for this navigation plan.
Appearance
The images above and below both depict a clean, refined design. Upon opening www.grtoys.com, users will be greeted by bright, sharp photos of products. The current website lacks a minimalistic design; when users search, they are overwhelmed by many category buttons instead of products. Here, the user starts the journey down the category-button-rabbit-hole. Particularly, this seven-click journey evoked one user to say “This website is stupid!'“ and give up. The new navigation aims to improve the efficiency and learnability of the website.
Our persona Emilie was shopping for her daughter’s fourth birthday. Her little one loves horses and Barbies. Using the new navigation, Emilie clicks on “2-4 years olds”, then “type” and “dolls.” If this search does not yield what she is looking for she can use the overall search function at the top of each page. The top goal is to get Emilie what she wants with the least amount of friction, to keep her shopping and purchasing on www.grtoys.com. The revamped website will result in pleasurable shopping experience and create loyal, return customers.
Checkout
Grandrabbit’s checkout method is tedious with opening and collapsing sections: shipping, billing and payment information. Each section required users to save their information before being able to move on to the next section. From user interview research, users revealed they want to check out on one page with all sections open. This option is finetuned on www.amazon.com. I asked users if they had experienced a satisfying online checkout process. One user shared she liked Holister.com. She went as far as to say that she felt like she was shopping in person.
I visited www.hollister.com and agreed that the easy, straightforward flow streamlined the checkout process. The flow inspired a new design to simplify and speed up checkout.
Delivery
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Home
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Age Group: 0-2
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Horse and Dolls
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Selected Doll
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Added to cart, Checkout?
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Checkout
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Purchase Confirmation
Usability
I asked my nephew if he would participate in a usability study for my Grandrabbit’s prototype. He is a bright teenager and I appreciate his direct feedback. When reflecting on the home page, he asked “Is this a blog?” To depict the top-level navigation (age brackets), I used images of one child throughout her adolescence to represent a long-term relationship between Grandrabbit’s and its customers. However, without prompting from a heading promoting the word “shop”, this user thought images were decorative instead of the click to get to age-bracketed sections.
He shared that he thought it was a blog because of the images used. They represent Grandrabbit’s community outreach programs. Because he did not see prices or toy pictures, he did not know it was an e-commerce site. This was a great reminder that the prime real estate of a website’s home page better communicates its business purpose. The hero image needed to be toy-related with verbiage promoting the Grandrabbit’s product and message.
Reflections
As little girls, my sister and I played with our Barbie Village for countless hours. It was an equestrian farm where a family and their many Brier horses lived. As young equestrians, we played that our Skipper dolls were training their horses and competing in horseshows. This play expanded our imaginations and overflowed into real life.
This project evoked nostalgia in me. I remembered the toys that made my childhood magic. To understand Grandrabbit’s, I studied history from its origin to the present. Carter was running for president and Space Mountain was born in the year of its origin. I researched the toys popular in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s as they would have been the toys our target customers in their youth. These toys inspired the design of my pitch deck and I had way too much fun.
I also sought to invoke the stakeholders’ nostalgia. By drawing on their memories and the treasures of their youth, I hope to provoke curiosity and keep their attention. Barbie played the role of Lynne, Foundress and champion of play, quality and outreach. From 1977 Barbie to the Modern boss Barbie, the doll has retained the leading role just as Lynne has.
The rapidly evolving business environment waits for no one and entrepreneurs must make wise decisions quickly. They cannot afford to take their time nor can they ignore shifts in consumer behavior. I fear without an updated, more sophisticated e-commerce website, Grandrabbit’s cannot survive in this “Amazon world”. However, nestled in small business-loving Boulder, it has a chance if it gets on board technologically.
I am rooting for this hometown treasure. Amidst our busy lives, our best memories are connected to places and people. After almost 50 years in business, I am unsure of Lynne’s succession plan. I hope she plans to continue the business so the next generation will build Grandrabbit’s memories too.
