RH
Relationship
External
Agency
PDP redesign,
Digital Product Vision,
1 x 6-week sprint
External
Consultant
Digital Product Vision, Hiring vendors, Overseeing
RH.COM redesign
, Long Term Planning, Company Rebrand.
12.5 years
Interim Chief Digital
Experience Officer
Define Process,
Department Reorg,
Review Tech Partners
,
Upgrade direct channels,
Set the digital vision
6 months
Restoration Hardware’s ultimate experience is delivered through the physical space – the core team asked me to embed with them to imagine what role the digital experience should play in the customer journey.
Before constructing a digital journey, deep thought had to be given to the existing physical store experience. The experience of Restoration Hardware is built from a series of motifs. These motifs reinforce value at every stage of the experience: the pea gravel driveway, the ornamental gates, the sweeping staircases, and the period elevators. Every motif reinforced the value of the context on the selection, and so, on the purchase of an item.
The Pattern in the physical store revealed value in every step the customer took. The texture, the craftsmanship, the comfort, the styling. But in the digital experience, each step closer to the product became less valuable. Standardized e-commerce, with smaller images, less information, and less uniqueness. To create a digital experience that could connect clienteling, services, and e-commerce we had to reimagine the entire flow of a digital experience into a single tool organized around creating a more valuable, more rewarding engagement upon each interaction.
Restoration Hardware's value is locked into the environment, the lifestyle, the context – and the name, Restoration Hardware, is at odds with this. Restoration Hardware is not in the business of Restoring, or Hardware. After I mentioned this Gary Friedman the CEO asked what it should be called, when I suggested RH he renamed the company.
RH helped the executive team align thinking around building a global lifestyle brand with a single aligned vision across the customer journey. RH expanded to RH Modern, Teen, Contemporary Art, and Music, and the stock price quadrupled in the following two years.
The Team
Marc Shillum – Chief Digital Experience Officer
Work&Co – Design Prototyping
Nicholas Halfhill – Director of Product Management
Carly Duffy – VP of Digital Merchandizing
Mario Porto/Method Inc – Identity
We created a symbol of the best unified experiences, which delivered the best UX, the best merchandizing and the best design. We created a pin, which we gave out to those who worked fearlessly to deliver these kind of experiences to our customers.