SQLI assists Cdiscount with Design Sprint deployment

Design Sprint: the methodology that speeds up and enhances innovation

As the leader in an extremely competitive and constantly changing market, Cdiscount is always developing and reinventing its offerings.  Because it has become crucial to innovate more efficiently and rapidly, the number-one French e-commerce player has turned to SQLI to help it find and deploy an operational solution – the design sprint. Following the success of initial workshops, the Design Sprint methodology will be deployed throughout Cdiscount's IT and business departments, in close collaboration with SQLI.
 

The beginning: a B2B platform made real in only five days

In order to respond to fiercer competition, Cdiscount wanted to increase accessibility and enhance its existing B2B service offering. The challenge was to come up with a concrete solution in an efficient way, while bringing both business and IT teams on board.

In order to do this, SQLI put forward a design sprint, which is an ideal methodology in this context. In the space of five days, collaboration enabled the production of a prototype by SQLI's UX experts, which was met with unanimous approval. In other words, a service-based digital platform and personalized features, 90% of which were approved by a user panel, providing the teams with assurance that the solution was relevant.

 

Two design sprints to complete the Seller Zone

Alongside the B2B platform project, Cdiscount wanted to redesign its Seller Zone – the interface dedicated to sellers in its marketplace. Here, sellers can create and manage their product catalogues, track orders, provide customer service, and carry out analytical and financial monitoring of sales. This interface can also be used to market complementary services.

The journeys involved were, then, complex, which could be an obstacle to providing a smooth seller experience. The aim was to design a more intuitive and personalized interface, in order to attract the best sellers and build their loyalty.The SQLI team conducted two design sprints in order to entirely rethink the two most critical journeys:

  • Catalogue creation (i.e. the integration of offerings in the marketplace);
  • Daily management of the catalogue.
     

Following two weeks of work, two interactive prototypes and ten user tests approving the new concepts, Cdiscount was able to validate a vision of its product, which has now entered the production phase, and the roadmap. 
 

New objective: gain long-lasting design sprint skills

The success of these collaborations convinced Cdiscount of the efficiency of the Design Sprint methodology and its relevance to its major strategic needs.

For Alexandre Dauber, Business Development Project Director at Cdiscount: "SQLI brought us its expertise and command of the methodology. The first design sprint we carried out together was a fantastic way to get things moving. Their support with several other upcoming design sprints will enable us to become more independent and carry them out ourselves in the future."

Quentin Brière-Bordier, Experience Design Consultancy Director at SQLI, adds: "The Design Sprint is a very concrete operational solution when it comes to speeding up innovation. In order to successfully integrate it at scale, together with Cdiscount, we came up with a personalized programme that includes skills development and the acculturation of teams through practice."

This programme will begin in the summer with the identification and qualification of nine priority areas, in terms of both the business and internal organisation. This will be followed by training and a series of design sprints, in keeping with assistance provided for the French e-commerce leader's innovative initiatives.