Unfold In-Store

Designing the buying experience

This project explored how Lululemon can reimagine its in-store experience to better serve diverse customer needs and strengthen brand perception. With declining stock performance and a reputation gap, the focus was on addressing issues of exclusivity, limited engagement, and negative brand sentiment. Through extensive primary and secondary research key barriers in accessibility, inclusivity, and community connection within Lululemon stores were ubcovered.

User Research | Co-creation | User Testing | Design Strategy | Retail Experience

Role

Service Designer
User Experience Researcher

Duration

10 Weeks

Business Innovation
Contextual Inquiry
Ethnographic Research
Workshop Facilitation
Prototyping

Skills

Tools

Miro
Figma
Adobe After Effects
Sketchbook
Microsoft Word
Microsoft Powerpoint
Autocad
Sketchup
Lumion

Sanjana Pawar
Rohitha Amirishetti
Aayushi Jain
Riya Patil
Anjani Thakkar
Pranali Mukkannavar

Team

Lululemon’s in-store experience feels exclusive and transactional, leaving many customers underrepresented and disengaged. This lack of inclusivity and connection fuels negative perceptions and weakens brand loyalty.

The solution reimagines lululemon stores as inclusive, community-first spaces by redesigning layouts, introducing engaging touchpoints, and fostering a sense of belonging. These interventions shift the in-store experience from transactional to transformational, strengthening loyalty and reinforcing lululemon’s identity as a holistic lifestyle brand.

What’s The PROBLEM

The suggested SOLUTION

Where Innovation Meets Inclusivity

The Future of Lululemon Starts Here…

Now, let’s see how we got there…

ABOUT PROJECT

Unfold In-Store was a service design project reimagining Lululemon’s in-store experience to foster inclusivity, enhance customer engagement, and strengthen brand perception. Through design interventions and co-creation, the project explored how retail spaces could go beyond product displays to become welcoming environments that integrate technology, community, and personalized service.

- Introduced and led desktop walkthrough prototyping with LEGO models to make concepts tangible.
- Designed and built prototypes simulating key in-store touchpoints (interactive storefronts, experiential trial rooms).
- Planned and facilitated user testing sessions, collecting feedback and refining concepts iteratively.
- Created surveys and interview guides to support structured research.
- Analyzed data to identify themes, map pain points, and define user archetypes.
- Facilitated co-creation workshops to align insights and shape future-state concepts.
- Storyboarded user journeys to communicate proposed solutions.
- Conducted secondary research (trends, competitor analysis, inclusive design strategies).
- The power of low-fidelity prototyping: even simple LEGO walkthroughs can spark dialogue, uncover assumptions, and accelerate iteration.
- Inclusive design must be participatory: direct engagement with diverse users surfaced insights we couldn’t have predicted through secondary research alone.
- Balance is critical: customers value innovation (like interactive storefronts) but also seek reassurance through transparency, trust, and brand alignment.
- Collaboration is iterative: co-creation workshops helped unify different perspectives and shaped solutions that were both creative and feasible.
- Affordability vs. Exclusivity: while inclusivity was a design goal, price perceptions remained a persistent tension, requiring a strategic decision to focus on experience rather than apparel affordability.
- Technology vs. Privacy: interactive touchpoints offered personalization, but raised concerns about data security and privacy — requiring careful design boundaries.
- Breadth vs. Depth of Interventions: with limited time, the team prioritized four touchpoints (storefront, trial room, inclusive visuals, nutri-space) over addressing the full retail ecosystem.
- Skepticism about LEGO prototyping: initially seen as playful rather than serious, I demonstrated its value by showing how it enabled rapid testing, iteration, and engagement with users.
- Aligning diverse opinions: through structured co-creation workshops, I helped the team converge on clear directions while still preserving creative input.
- Data overload: synthesizing insights from 18+ usability tests and 470+ data points required disciplined clustering, persona creation, and prioritization.
- Scalability: Expanding beyond one store prototype to a system-wide playbook for inclusive retail experiences.
- Deeper personalization: Leveraging digital solutions to tailor shopping journeys without compromising privacy.
- Cross-industry applications: The methods and insights from Unfold In-Store could be adapted for other lifestyle and retail brands facing similar inclusivity challenges.

Market Study

Steady growth predicted for global activewear market, reaching $451 billion by 2028
Size of the activewear market worldwide
from 2021 to 2028

US dominates global activewear market in 2022
Market Share of United States

Why does Lululemon, with its unparalleled athleisure products, still struggle to win everyone's heart? Our mission isn't just about selling clothes; it's about transforming perceptions and turning every retail encounter into a positive experience.

Competitor Analysis

Store visits to explore user journeys, assess customer experience, and benchmark best practices.

Blue Ocean Strategy

Mapping market landscapes to reveal uncontested opportunities, shifting focus from purely apparel-driven metrics

Inclusive In-Store Experience: Moving beyond product sales to create welcoming, diverse retail environments.

Experiential Touchpoints: Interactive storefronts and immersive trial rooms that elevate engagement beyond standard try-on experiences.

Wellness Integration: Adding Nutri-space and lifestyle guidance to position Lululemon as a complete wellness ecosystem, not just a clothing brand.

Personalization & Technology: Leveraging digital solutions for fit guidance and curated recommendations, surpassing competitors still reliant on traditional retail models.

SWOT Analysis

To evaluate the strengths

Conducting a SWOT analysis helped us evaluate Lululemon’s strengths in brand equity and loyal customer base, while acknowledging weaknesses in inclusivity and accessibility perceptions. We identified opportunities in experiential retail, personalization, and wellness integration, contrasted with threats from rising competitors in the athleisure market.

This exercise clarified where to focus our design interventions, leveraging strengths while directly addressing weaknesses, and guided us toward solutions that could create differentiated, future-ready growth opportunities.