Kinoverse

Mobile App

Service

Kinoverse is an app aimed to encourage a sense of exploration among Kinokuniya visitors by providing a personalised adventure connecting books from the diverse genre available in Kinokuniya.

Timeline

Sep 2022 - Nov 2022

Role

Service Designer, UI/UX Designer

Project Scope

Design Research & Ideation, Service Design, UI/UX Design, Video Editing

Tools

Introduction

Kinokuniya is the largest Japanese bookstore in Southeast Asia. With its vision of creating opportunities for cross-cultural interactions and mission of satisfying customers.

Mission

Creating opportunities of contacts between cultures and civilisations and developing the growth of local cultures and talents with the aim of promoting better understanding amongst cultures.

Vision

To provide excellent services and pleasant ambience to satisfy and
delight all their customers. Together, they work in trust, harmony, and integrity so that all of them can be proud of being a member of Kinokuniya.

Research

Current efforts of Kinokuniya

Looking and supplying into book trends to remain relevant.

Promoting local writers based on outlet locations worldwide.

Occasional meet & greet events and fandom fansigning.

Field Study

Kinokuniya heavily relies on book trends to sustain their sales.

Kinokuniya does have a large array of books which are tightly packed even within the large space.

Some visitors do get lost within Kinokuniya.

Survey Results

This survey was conducted to analyse customer reading behaviors.

The rise of book trends in Tiktok has created an increase in Kinokuniya’s book sales.

This creates an inter-dependancy to external factor, which is BookTok.

Seems like they go to Kinokuniya whenever they have free time to let themselves loose and spend however much time they want.

They receive book recommendations on social media, but mostly they discover new book titles by roaming around and browsing.

People go to Kinokuniya to wind-down and have their me time, with no specific goals in mind.

They go to Kinokuniya not to specifically buy books, but to enjoy the ambience and browse through.

72.8% wants to get a new reading experience

Interview Results

"Rather than thinking of only boosting sales,

we place more importance on boosting reading or readership."

Research

Current efforts of Kinokuniya

Looking and supplying into book trends to remain relevant.

Promoting local writers based on outlet locations worldwide.

Occasional meet & greet events and fandom fansigning.

Field Study

Kinokuniya heavily relies on book trends to sustain their sales.

Kinokuniya does have a large array of books which are tightly packed even within the large space.

Some visitors do get lost within Kinokuniya.

Survey Results

This survey was conducted to analyse customer reading behaviors.

The rise of book trends in Tiktok has created an increase in Kinokuniya’s book sales.

This creates an inter-dependancy to external factor, which is BookTok.

Seems like they go to Kinokuniya whenever they have free time to let themselves loose and spend however much time they want.

They receive book recommendations on social media, but mostly they discover new book titles by roaming around and browsing.

People go to Kinokuniya to wind-down and have their me time, with no specific goals in mind.

They go to Kinokuniya not to specifically buy books, but to enjoy the ambience and browse through.

72.8% wants to get a new reading experience

Interview Results

"Rather than thinking of only boosting sales,

we place more importance on boosting reading or readership."

Research

Current efforts of Kinokuniya

Looking and supplying into book trends to remain relevant.

Promoting local writers based on outlet locations worldwide.

Occasional meet & greet events and fandom fansigning.

Field Study

Kinokuniya heavily relies on book trends to sustain their sales.

Kinokuniya does have a large array of books which are tightly packed even within the large space.

Some visitors do get lost within Kinokuniya.

Survey Results

This survey was conducted to analyse customer reading behaviors.

The rise of book trends in Tiktok has created an increase in Kinokuniya’s book sales.

This creates an inter-dependancy to external factor, which is BookTok.

Seems like they go to Kinokuniya whenever they have free time to let themselves loose and spend however much time they want.

They receive book recommendations on social media, but mostly they discover new book titles by roaming around and browsing.

People go to Kinokuniya to wind-down and have their me time, with no specific goals in mind.

They go to Kinokuniya not to specifically buy books, but to enjoy the ambience and browse through.

72.8% wants to get a new reading experience

Interview Results

"Rather than thinking of only boosting sales,

we place more importance on boosting reading or readership."

Analysis

Customer Behaviors

Persona

Sarah, 21

Reader Type

Explorer, loves to discover and takes time to find new books and indulge in the experience of getting lost in a bookstore. Values alone time and enjoys finding hidden gem of books.

Frustrations

Navigations can be difficult

Lacks a personalised recommendation

Might miss out on books that may suit her better

Needs

Be more certain of her choices

Get a book without spending too much time

Analysis

Customer Behaviors

Persona

Sarah, 21

Reader Type

Explorer, loves to discover and takes time to find new books and indulge in the experience of getting lost in a bookstore. Values alone time and enjoys finding hidden gem of books.

Frustrations

Navigations can be difficult

Lacks a personalised recommendation

Might miss out on books that may suit her better

Needs

Be more certain of her choices

Get a book without spending too much time

Analysis

Customer Behaviors

Persona

Sarah, 21

Reader Type

Explorer, loves to discover and takes time to find new books and indulge in the experience of getting lost in a bookstore. Values alone time and enjoys finding hidden gem of books.

Frustrations

Navigations can be difficult

Lacks a personalised recommendation

Might miss out on books that may suit her better

Needs

Be more certain of her choices

Get a book without spending too much time

Problem Statement

Kinokuniya's misalignment of their values diverges their intended efforts to sustain in the future.

Root Cause

The rise in book trends have caused Kinokuniya’s vision of creating cross-cultural opportunities to stray and causes the lack of awareness for under appreciated books and authors.