Role

Service Designer

Focus

Retail Innovation, Operational Efficiency, Technology Integration, User Research

Year

2025

About The Project

As part of my master’s in Customer Experience & Innovation at IE, I led a team-based service design project in partnership with IKEA’s Global Customer Experience Team. Our project aimed to reimagine the checkout experience for all IKEA stores, regardless of format. Using field research, journey mapping, and rapid prototyping, we developed SYNKA, a conceptual RFID-powered solution that could scale across IKEA’s entire global retail network. This partnership offered direct feedback from IKEA leaders and demonstrated how academic research combined with industry collaboration shapes innovation opportunities before launch.

"Why do I have to do all the scanning myself? I’m just trying to buy furniture, not do a cashier’s job for free."

The Challenge

Our interviews and observations confirmed checkout as the top friction point in the urban IKEA journey. At peak times, traditional counters took over eight minutes for baskets averaging 12 items. Scan & Go saw low adoption and was described by shoppers as unpaid labor. Staff time was heavily spent helping customers complete checkout rather than improving service elsewhere.

Research and Insights

We led more than 15 interviews and journey mapping exercises with real IKEA shoppers and staff. Pain points included difficult app logins, repetitive scanning, queue anxiety, and frequent staff intervention. Prototyping with users and benchmarking global retail systems shaped our proposal, while stakeholder workshops ensured operational feasibility.

Data-Driven Pain Points

Average Time to Checkout

The average shopper checked out with a bag containing 12 items, each of which previously had to be scanned individually.

~8 minutes

Traditional Checkout

⬇

~2 minutes

after implementation of SYNKA

Self-Checkout Adoption Rate

Only 20% of shoppers opted to use Scan & Go before SYNKA. Most customers preferred traditional counters, highlighting barriers to tech-based adoption in IKEA’s city stores.

Staff Operational Efficiency

Before SYNKA, staff spent up to 50% of their time troubleshooting self-service technology and assisting with scanning problems. The new system shifted their focus to RFID coding and customer service, freeing time for higher-value interactions and reducing operational friction.

Customer Sentiment

Interviewed shoppers described self-scanning as “doing a cashier’s job for free” and voiced a strong desire for fast, frictionless checkout experiences.

The Solution

SYNKA is a conceptual RFID-powered checkout flow. Shoppers load their cart and walk through RFID gates for automatic scanning. A payment kiosk finalizes transactions, with oversized items tracked using special RFID cards. Staff focus shifts from manual troubleshooting to encoding and customer service. All projections and process flows are based on prototype modeling and industry benchmarks.

Flowchart of an automated checkout process at an Ikea store, illustrating steps from pre-entry to session locking, including entry, item detection, virtual cart creation, kiosk assignment, payment, session locking, exit gate, kill tags, and smart validation.
Indoor scene of an RFID entry gate in a modern facility with metallic turnstiles, a green RFID scanner, and a diagram illustrating the RFID scan process with a person pushing a shopping cart.
An interior view of a modern shopping mall or airport with multiple payment kiosks lined up in two rows, leading to an open space in the background. The floor is polished and reflective, and the ceiling features exposed beams with lighting. There is a small illustration in the bottom right corner showing a person using a self-checkout kiosk.
Modern airport exit gates with green lights, metal turnstiles, and transparent glass doors, indicating the exit area.

Projected Results and Impact

Checkout Time reduction by approx. 75%

from 8 minutes to under 2 minutes (ave. bagsize of 12 items)

98% RFID Read Accurancy

from 88% Scan Accurancy before SYNKA

  • Potential for lower staff burden and higher-value work

  • Reduced theft and error rates based on RFID control

  • Higher customer satisfaction and potential return visits

Leadership and Teamwork

Key Learnings

I led user research, facilitated workshops with the Global Customer Experience Team at IKEA, and synthesized findings into the final service blueprint. Our solutions were designed to address operational and customer journey pain points observed across multiple IKEA store formats, ensuring broad relevance and adaptability.

  • Pain points at the end of journeys can erase earlier positive experiences.

  • Technology works best when built around customer habits and store realities.

  • Collaborative prototyping and operational modeling are vital in conceptual projects.

  • Academic design projects can uncover high-impact opportunities for complex global businesses, even before a full-scale pilot.

  • Rigorous research and prototyping, even when conceptual, help build credible business cases for innovation.

All metrics and projected impacts reflect research, industry benchmarks, and prototype modeling within an academic project context. This concept is not yet live in IKEA stores.

5 minutes

Scan-and-Go Checkout