During my time in the innovation lab, I worked across three new ventures. One grew into a national business, and the other two were pivoted after their beta phases, as the market wasn't ready.
I mapped the journey from enquiry to booking to see where people were dropping off.
We tried different tasting sizes, occasions and gift options until we found what people actually wanted to buy.
We trained Waitrose's own wine experts to run the tastings in people's homes.
Enquiry conversion went up 50% and the tastings got 150+ five-star reviews on Trustpilot. It grew from a small trial into a national business.
We took it from an idea to a local beta to see whether people would really use it.
We worked with a security partner on smart locks and one-time access for drivers, built by an offshore engineering team I was responsible for.
We looked at whether it could work at scale, and it couldn't.
A few hundred customers used it and the interest was there. But pets, trust and the cost of having someone in your home outweighed the convenience, so it was pivoted before it was scaled across the country. Elements of it still exist today.
We partnered with a third-party insurance provider to offer the product.
We built new quote flows that showed customers how much their premium would drop by installing smart devices in their home.
It was pivoted after the beta phase, as the market wasn't ready yet. Elements of it still exist today.