Redesigning Retail: Himalaya's Journey from Product Shelf to Personal Wellness
Leading the UX strategy to transform 500+ SKUs of overwhelming choice into personalized wellness journeys, with projected increase in average basket size from 3.5 to 5+ lines through AI-powered in-store experiences.
User Engagement Increase
Brand Awareness
Demand for Transparency
Himalaya Wellness approached us with a deceptively simple question β how do you make someone pick up two more products when they already feel overwhelmed by five hundred?
Chapter 01
The Brief
"Increase basket size from 3.5 to 5+ lines/bill through Design and Modern Technology."
Client
Himalaya Wellness Company
Timeline
6 months (2025)
Team
1 UX Designer, 1 Head of Innovation and Managers
Tools
Figma, Fig Jam, Google Analytics
My Responsibilities
- πUser research synthesis & persona development
- πΊοΈJourney mapping & opportunity identification
- π€AI solution strategy & feature definition
- π―Prototyping & usability testing oversight
Chapter 02
Into the Stores
We started where every good design story begins β by watching people. Spending time in Himalaya's stores revealed a pattern that no survey could capture.
500+ SKUs
Store appears cluttered
No Guidance
Hard to find right products
Best-sellers Only
Generic recommendations
Pharmacy Feel
Confused with medical stores
Customers feel overwhelmed by variety and lack personalized guidance, leading to indecision.
β Key insight from store observations
See the Difference
Drag the slider to see how the store experience transforms.
The Bigger Picture
Why Now? The Market Is Ready
This wasn't just a store problem β it reflected a global shift in how people think about wellness and what they expect from brands.
Global Beauty & Wellness Market
Market Size
The global wellness market is valued at $1.8 trillion, with strong growth driven by consumer demand for science-backed solutions, experiencing an annual growth rate of 5% to 10%.
Global Wellness Market
$1.8trillion
Consumer Prioritization
A significant portion of consumers consider wellness a top priority: 82% in the U.S., 73% in the U.K., and 87% in China.
Wellness Prioritization
82%
Generational Shifts
In 2024, Gen X led beauty spending with an expected $150 billion. However, Millennials are driving the highest growth, with projections indicating they will overtake Gen X by 2034, contributing $193 billion to the market.
Millennials Contribution
$193billion
Source: McKinsey Company
Indian Beauty and Wellness Market
Overall Market Value
The Indian beauty and wellness industry is expected to reach approximately $20 billion by the end of 2025, projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of around 11.5% during the forecast period from 2025 to 2030.
Holistic Wellness Approach
A significant portion of Indian consumers views beauty and wellness as interconnected, with 8 in 10 agreeing that looking good enhances confidence.
Changing Consumer Preferences
71% of Indian consumers prefer natural beauty products over synthetic ones. This shift towards natural and organic products has encouraged brands to develop formulations that are chemicals emphasising on natural ingredients.
Conscious Consumerism
Conscious consumerism with consumers becoming more aware and demanding about product ingredients, manufacturing processes, and environmental impact. 63.9% show a strong inclination towards organic products.
Source: Mintel, Markintel Research
The CURRENT STATE
Rise of Clean and Green Beauty
Natural and Organic Products
Indian consumers are becoming more ingredient-conscious and prefer products with clean, natural, and non-toxic ingredients which are currently high in demand.
Eco-friendly Packaging
There is a growing consumer preference for brands that adopt sustainable practices, such as eco-friendly packaging, refillable containers, and cruelty-free products.
Tech-Driven Beauty and Wellness
AI-Enabled Diagnostics
Advanced AI-driven diagnostic tools are helping consumers understand their skin and hair conditions better, providing personalized product recommendations.
Virtual Try-On
Features such as virtual try-on is enhancing consumer engagement and driving sales. Brands leveraging these technologies are likely to see increased consumer loyalty and market share.
Personalization and Customization
Customized Regimens
Brands offering customized beauty kits and wellness plans are gaining traction, catering to consumers' unique preferences and concerns.
Demand for Tailored Solutions
Brands are leveraging AI and data analytics to offer tailored skincare, hair care, and wellness solutions based on individual skin types, hair types, and lifestyle needs.
WHY THEY WALKAway...
Feel Overwhelmed
Too many similar SKUs with no clear differentiation β customers freeze at the shelf
Guessing Needs
Without guidance, customers default to best-sellers instead of best-fit products
Rare Consultations
Only 12% of customers utilize in-store expert consultations
Pharmacy Look & Feel
Store identity confused with Apollo Pharmacy β undermines the wellness brand positioning
No Cross-Sell = Lost Potential
Missing holistic wellness packages that pair skincare with internal wellness products
Chapter 03
What We Heard
Surveys told us numbers. But conversations told us stories. We spoke to 45 people and discovered that the gap wasn't about products β it was about trust and guidance.
Finding
With 300+ SKUs it becomes difficult for a consumer to pick the right product for themselves.
Insight
βToo many productsβ but βtoo little guidanceβ. More SKUs amplify confusion instead of value.
Opportunity
Introduce an AI that learns user needs and behavior to curate, explain and simplify user journey.
The SURVEY ANALYSIS
With a Sample Size of 45 Participants (Mainly targeting people from the age group of 20-35) the Survey was conducted to understand how people choose brands and are the familiar about Himalaya Wellness Company to understand consumer and operational needs.
0.0%
People are aware about Himalaya Wellness brand
0.0%
Participants are not aware about the Himalaya Wellness stores
0%
Think that brands should be transparent about their ingredients used.
0.0%
Would like to use brand's AI tool for personalized skincare recommendations.
Ingredient Transparency, Product Review & Price
Majorly Influences the purchase decision of a product.
58.5%
Participants are somewhat likely to use product customizations (Kits, Routines).
Biotique, Nivea & MamaEarth
are the major brands used by the participants.
Discover New Products and Learn about Selfcare Routines
Is majorly done via Social Media.
Natural, Trustworthy and Healthcare
are the terms participants associate with Himalaya Wellness.
Promotes Physical & Mental well being
while choosing a personal care or wellness product.
The data painted a clear picture β but we needed faces behind the numbers. Two distinct customers kept showing up in our research, each with a very different relationship to wellness.
Chapter 04
The People Behind the Problem
Meet Aisha and Priya β two customers whose frustrations became the compass for everything we designed.
Aisha Sharma
28 years old
Marketing Executive
"I don't just want to buy products, I want to understand what I'm putting on my skin and why it works for me."
- Find personalized skincare routines that fit her lifestyle
- Understand ingredient benefits without being a chemist
- Build a consistent wellness routine with trusted products
Chapter 05
Walking in Their Shoes
We traced the emotional arc of a store visit β from the hopeful moment of walking in, to the frustration of being lost among 500 products, to the compromise of grabbing a best-seller and leaving.
Connecting the Dots
Three Paths, One Goal
Every customer enters differently β some scan products, some seek skin analysis, some want a doctor. We designed three flows that all lead to the same place: a personalized recommendation.
By breaking the experience into smaller, logical steps, I could visualize how users discover features, make decisions and take action without confusion.
The research pointed to a clear truth: customers didn't need more products β they needed a guide. Something that understood them before they had to explain themselves.
Chapter 06
Bringing It to Life
We designed a four-step in-store journey powered by AI β turning the overwhelming shelf into a personal wellness consultation.
The Entry Point
Interactive kiosk with welcoming interface guides customers into their wellness journey
AI Skin Analysis
Camera-based skin analysis identifies skin type, concerns, and personalized needs
Personalized Routine
AI-powered matching algorithm suggests products based on individual analysis
Smart Cross-sell
Intelligent pairing of internal wellness products with skincare recommendations
Interactive Prototype
Click on the prototype to interact
Click to interact with prototype
Scroll will be captured inside the prototype
Chapter 07
Teaching the Machine to Care
AI can recommend a product in milliseconds. But can it build trust? We designed every AI touchpoint with a human fallback β because technology should enhance guidance, never replace it.
Trust & Transparency
The AI reads the user's face and identifies potential skin concerns β a great starting point especially for users who don't even know their skin type
The system shows users WHY it recommended specific products (ingredient matching, skin type reasoning) to build trust in AI suggestions
Graceful Fallbacks
If the AI recommendation doesn't feel right, users can: (a) request a doctor's appointment through the kiosk, (b) contact a store executive for human guidance, (c) manually override and browse products themselves
The design ensures AI enhances rather than gates the experience β every AI touchpoint has a human alternative
Edge Cases & Honest Limitations
Acknowledged limitations: lighting conditions affecting camera accuracy, users with multiple overlapping skin concerns, first-time users unfamiliar with AI tools
These are documented as areas for future iteration β showing mature design thinking rather than pretending perfection
Usability Validation
Tested the prototype with 4-5 users to validate the overall flow
Since the AI couldn't function in prototype, benchmarked against existing AI skin analysis apps (like Olay Skin Advisor, SkinVision) to test user comfort with AI-driven recommendations
Key finding: users were receptive to AI suggestions as a starting point but wanted the option to override β which directly informed the fallback design
So β did it work? The numbers tell a compelling story. But more importantly, the experience changed.
Chapter 08
The Impact
Projected metrics based on usability testing and industry benchmarks for AI-powered retail personalization.
Avg Basket Size
Consultation Rate
Cross-sell Success
Satisfaction
