SCAD PRO X CVS HEALTH
What if reducing retail theft started with rethinking the store experience?
Exploring how CVS Health could address retail loss while creating a safer, more intuitive, and more welcoming experience for customers and employees.
Design Strategy
Systems Thinking
Retail Experience
My role
Project Lead, Research & Strategy
Who I designed for
Customers, colleagues & CVS Health
Scope
Retail experience & loss prevention
Timeline
Three months
(Sept - Nov)
Team
Multidisciplinary team of 18
IMPACT UPFRONT
Beyond loss
prevention. Designing for trust.
Our recommendations create value across three key areas.
SECURITY
Addressing theft and retail vulnerabilities
Experience
Reducing friction for customers and colleagues
Business
Balancing loss prevention with store performance
01/ THE OPPORTUNITY
Retail theft affects more than inventory
The leadership of CVS Health challenged our multidisciplinary team to explore ways to address external theft while improving the customer experience and store profitability.
In Scope
Retail interior · Customer journey · Fixtures · Colleague experience
The Design Challenge
How might we reduce retail theft without compromising customer experience, colleague confidence, or business profitability?
1.6%
Retail shrink rate
US Industry FY 2022
$40.6 B
is external theft as per 2022
/112.1 B
$54 B
in external theft by 2027
1.33%
$112.1B
Estimated shrink losses
US Industry FY 2022
02/ MY CONTRIBUTION
Making the
connections visible.
Research & Inquiry
As Project Lead, I helped guide research, bring together different perspectives, synthesize findings, and translate insights into connected strategic directions.
The team was ten SCADpro students across UX design, service design, industrial design, design management, and brand management.
Synthesis & System
Team Facilitation
Strategic Concepts
03/ METHODOLOGIES & PROCESS
How we got from a question to a recommendation
Four stages, each answering one question. This is what we asked, how we found out, and what it produced.
STAGE 01
DISCOVER
Question:
What is really going on beyond the numbers?
Methods:
-
Secondary research
-
In-store observations
-
Customer, colleague and stakeholder insights
-
Research analysis
Produced
Research wall and first insights
Necessity
Poverty, unemployment
Research & Inquiry
Where I led
STAGE 02
DEFINE
Question:
Which tensions sit behind the problem?
Methods:
-
Research synthesis framework: why, how, impact, today
-
Stakeholder ecosystem
-
Key tensions mapping
Produced
Opportunity areas across the experience
Necessity
Poverty, unemployment
Synthesis & System
Where I led
STAGE 03
DESIGN
Question:
How do isolated fixes become connected ideas?
Methods:
-
Concept sketching: 20+ ideas in three buckets
-
Continue, Discard, Evolve review
-
Concept refinement across four sub-teams
Produced
3 complementary directions and client handoff
Necessity
Poverty, unemployment
Team Facilitation
Where I led
Question:
Can the client actually adopt this?
Methods:
-
Six evaluation metrics
-
Framework tested against five personas
-
Client feedback
Produced
Final recommendations and implementation considerations
Strategic Concepts & Team Performance
Where I led
STAGE 04
DELIVER
04/ KEY STAGES
From research to connected interventions
Four stages that shaped the strategic direction, rather than a step-by-step documentation of every activity.
01
DISCOVER
Understanding the problem beyond the numbers.
Research Wall
-
Secondary research and customer, colleague and stakeholder insights
-
Store observations
I. Assessing the situation
1
Secondary Research
2
Research Analysis
3
In-store assessment
4
2
4
Insights
02
DEFINE
Finding the tensions behind the problem.
Stakeholder Ecosystem
-
Synthesis of research findings
-
Opportunity areas across the experience
II. Actionable Knowledge
1
Research Analysis
2
Insights
III. Concepts
03
DESIGN
Moving from isolated fixes to connected ideas.
Sketching Concepts
-
Three complementary directions
-
Store procedures, physical layouts, and signage
-
Colleague culture and communication
2
Design Deliverables
1
3
Concept Refinement
1
Concept Development
4
Client Handoff
04
EVALUATE
Making recommendations actionable.
Six evaluation metrics
-
Framework tested against five personas
-
Client feedback: keep it practical and simple to adopt
-
Final recommendations and implementation considerations
05/ Research & synthesis
One store.
Different realities.
Customers
Convenience · Access · Trust
Colleagues
Safety · Service · Carity
Shrink · Operational performance
Business
Loss scenarios
Opportunistic · Need-based · organized
Our inquiry combined secondary research, store observations, and customer, colleague, and business perspectives to examine how security measures affect the wider retail experience.
KEY TENSIONS
Safety
Convenience
Visibility
Privacy
Policies
Experience
Short-term loss
Long-term trust
Strategic Shift
From stopping theft at isolated touchpoints to designing a connected retail experience.
Research synthesis framework
1. Why?
Drivers
Necessity
Poverty, unemployment
Necessity
Poverty, unemployment
Necessity
Poverty, unemployment
Profit /ORC
Resale, shadow economy
Necessity
Poverty, unemployment
Thrill
Impulse
Necessity
Poverty, unemployment
Social influence
Peer pressure
Necessity
Poverty, unemployment
Exploiting layout
Lighting, sightlines
Necessity
Poverty, unemployment
Concealment
Bags, clothing, crowded aisles
2. How?
Methods
Tag tampering
Snatch-and-grab
Return Fraud
Necessity
Poverty, unemployment
Business
Shrink, revenue loss, security costs
Necessity
Poverty, unemployment
Employees
Stress, morale, turnover
Necessity
Poverty, unemployment
Customers
Safety, availability, checkout delays
3. Impact
Impacts
Necessity
Poverty, unemployment
Security
Cameras, locked cases, mirrors, tags
4. Today
Solutions & gaps
Necessity
Poverty, unemployment
Policies
Hands-off approach, inconsistent reporting
Necessity
Poverty, unemployment
Layout
Open aisles, visibility, lighting
Opportunities
Policy Redesign
Targeted Support
Layout adjustments
Tech solutions
06/ From insight to decision
Connecting tensions to design opportunities.
Product Access
Design Tension
Protection can interrupt shopping.
Design Opportunity
Selective protection + assisted access
Colleague operations
Design Tension
Security procedures add service complexity.
Design Opportunity
Clearer handoffs + support workflows
Store experience
Design Tension
Protection may feel unwelcoming.
Design Opportunity
Visibility + signage + help-first service
07/ IDEATION & FOCUS
Explore widely. Then focus.
We generated more than 20 concepts across three buckets. After the midterm and client feedback, a Continue, Discard, Evolve review decided what to carry forward. Four sub-teams then each took one layer of the experience, from spatial design and operations to communication and brand perception.
IN-STORE
Checkout Hub
Smart Exit
Care Kiosk
Vending- style shelves
Tester
Behind the counter
The backstage store
COMMUNITY
Wall Mural
Locally sourced section
Gamified store
Community health goals
Neighbor in need
Entrance Experience
In-store mascot
CVS Day
COMPANY
VR Training
Random police check-ins
Flip the script
Public Fund
Redirect off-market customers
Changing packaging
CONTINUE
Checkout hub, packaging system, vending machines
EVOLVE
Behind the counter, Smart exit, Wall murals, In-store Mascot, Public Fund
DISCARD
VR Training, Changing Packaging, CVS Day, Neighbor in need
08/ DESIGN DIRECTIONS
One challenge. Three layers of change.
01
Physical Experience
-
Store sightlines and managed entry concepts
-
Selective product protection
-
Assisted self-checkout
VISIBILITY
People behave differently when they feel seen.
Scent, sound, and lighting reduce stress-driven impulses.
CALMESS
CLARITY
Spatial layout reduces confusion and blind spots.
BELONGING
Local storytelling strengthens respect for shared spaces.
02
Company Operations
-
Merchandise access and unlock procedures
-
Colleague service handoffs
-
Consistent, workable store processes
03
Culture & Communication
-
Help-first customer-facing signage
-
Clear colleague communication
-
Supportive, respectful interactions
Strategic Shift
Security should work as a coordinated experience, not a collection of barriers.
Design Principle
09/ OUTCOMES & EVALUATION
A better store experience is a business decision.
The project culminated in client-facing strategic recommendations across physical design, company procedures, and colleague culture.
PROTECT
SUPPORT
SIMPLIFY
SUSTAIN
Proposed validation
Pilot
Measure
Refine
Scale
Phased implementation plan
Experience · Structural · Community
Merchandise vulnerability and shrink
Customer access and colleague confidence
Assistance workload and operational effort
Sales implications and store feasibility
10/ REFLECTION & NEXT STEPS
The biggest insight wasn’t about theft.
A solution can protect a product and still create a problem for the person trying to buy it. Security, operations, employee behavior, customer trust, and business priorities influence one another.
It was about the system around it.
WHAT I LEARNED AS A PROJECT LEAD
Leading this multidisciplinary project strengthened my ability to align different perspectives, navigate ambiguity, and translate research into a strategic narrative that stakeholders could use. The strongest decisions often happen before solutions take shape.
NEXT REAL WORLD VALIDATION
Pilot selected interventions, measure customer and colleague experience, assess operational performance, and refine before scale.
