Tiny interventions - Service design
Pandemic shift - virtual product line
PROJECT TAGS
Crisis Strategy | Resilient design | Design innovation | Agile methodology
ROLE
Problem identification, Intervention design
PROJECT DETAILS
Product Lead, Strategy
Oye happy
4 weeks
OUTCOME
New product strategy, New product line, Blue Ocean Innovation
In early 2020, as COVID-19 led to a nationwide lockdown in India, the bootstrapped e-commerce gifting company I worked for faced significant challenges. With physical delivery halted, we confronted critical questions about the future of the business:
How long would this disruption last?
How could we maintain cash flow to meet the financial obligations during the lockdown and beyond?
Suddenly, the business model of the company, business plan and its approach towards its vision was challenged by the new normal - how can we facilitate surprises when deliveries are not possible?
challenge
how might we facilitate surprises during complete lockdown in India?
Understanding the context
The lockdown compelled us to regroup our energies as a core-team. There were a lot of uncertainities, personally and as a business. We addressed these with a regrouping exercise that voiced our personal challenges but also made obvious the bigger business challenges that lied ahead - We didn't know when the country would open up for deliveries again and deliveries were essential for our existing business model
Innovative Shift: Adapting to Virtual Surprises
We mapped our existing inventory and delivery fulfilment models and that showed us our new hope - products that didn't require physical deliveries. This was a major breakthrough for the business that required us to relook our existing system.
We then shifted our focus to the virtual space, driven by the following insights:
Leverage strengths: We leaned into our core skills—creating innovative surprise concepts and fostering a community passionate about surprising others.
Seamless transition: By adapting our unique offerings for virtual delivery, we retained the essence of our business while evolving to fit new circumstances.
Expanding Product Offering : Reimagining Customer Favorites
Next, it was important that the product offering was compelling and aspirational enough. The biggest strength of the company had always been the innovative and aspirational gifting concepts. We leveraged that and reimagined our popular surprise concepts into virtual categories:
Social Surprises
Personal Surprises
Surprises from Strangers
Remote Execution Strategy: Virtual Operations with Efficiency
To ensure effective virtual delivery, we developed remote-friendly modes for our surprises, such as:
Delivery: Email, calls, and messages
Operations: Products designed for easy execution within a remote work setup, ensuring continuity and efficiency
Bestselling Virtual Surprise Ideas
To engage customers, we created virtual surprise options from our existing concepts as well as new concepts that have an aspirational value that became popular choices during the lockdown:
24-Hour Virtual Hamper: A digital "hamper" delivered over 24 hours, featuring a series of thoughtful messages, mini-gifts, and surprises sent at intervals, creating an all-day experience for recipients.
Calls from Strangers: Recipients would receive uplifting calls from friendly strangers, spreading positivity and creating memorable, unexpected interactions.
Mails from Strangers: Thoughtful, personalized messages from strangers sent via email, offering heartfelt surprises to brighten the recipient's day.
Project Success Metrics
Our quick adaptation to virtual surprises led to strong outcomes across multiple dimensions:
Quick Turnaround Time
Within 3 weeks of the lockdown, we launched a pilot run with the first 10 virtual surprises. This included developing the product concepts and creating the operational setup required for smooth execution.
New Product Line Created
The virtual success paved the way for a new, hybrid product: Week-Long Surprises, where recipients receive virtual surprises for a week, ending with a physical gift on the final day.
Revenue Generation During Lockdown
Despite a nationwide halt on physical operations, our pivot enabled steady revenue. Over the 4 months of lockdown, Oye Happy sold more than 3,000 virtual products, demonstrating the effectiveness of our reinvented business model.
Continued Success
The virtual surprise products continued to sell well on our website even after the lockdown was lifted, proving the sustained appeal of virtual and hybrid surprise options alongside physical deliveries.
