Streamlining Uniqlo’s Alteration Orders: Simplifying the Waitwhile Experience

Simplifying workflows and improving coordination by refining Waitwhile’s workflow for managers, alteration specialists, and store staff.

Role

I led UX flow design and low-fidelity ideation, created visual designs, and contributed to synthesizing user research findings.

Team

Nina Yu, Michelle Chen,

Andy Metcalf, John Gonzales

Date

Tools

Jan - March 2025

Figma

Overview

Getting the perfect fit is a key part of Uniqlo’s customer experience, but behind the scenes, the alteration process has its challenges. Employees struggle with slow order tracking, miscommunication, and a cumbersome system that leads to delays and frustration. The Waitwhile system, meant to streamline alterations, lacks real-time notifications, forcing staff to rely on radios instead. Order tracking is also difficult, as the system only displays same-day completed orders, making it hard to find older requests. On top of that, manual data entry often leads to missing customer updates and misplaced receipts.

To fix these issues, we designed and tested a faster, more intuitive workflow that improves order tracking, communication, and retrieval across multiple devices. Our solution automates updates, enhances notifications, and simplifies data entry, allowing employees to complete alterations more efficiently.

After multiple iterations and user testing, our high-fidelity prototype delivers a seamless, reliable system for Uniqlo employees. With streamlined workflows and improved communication, staff can process orders faster, reducing wait times and ensuring a better experience for both employees and customers.

Problem Discovery

Through on-site observations, interviews, and user testing with Uniqlo store staff and alteration specialists, we identified key breakdowns in the alteration order process that impacted both employees and customers.

Key Findings:

Communication Gaps: Waitwhile fails to notify managers when alterations are ready, forcing staff to rely on radios. One alteration specialist noted, “We’ve learned to just call on the radio because waiting for the app to notify managers doesn’t work most of the time.”
Order Tracking Issues: Staff struggle to retrieve older orders due to Waitwhile’s default settings. A manager shared, “If a customer loses their order number, finding it can take forever.”
Manual Entry Errors: Employees often forget to enable SMS notifications, leaving customers uninformed about their order status. This leads to confusion and unnecessary follow-ups.
Workflow Bottlenecks: Employees spend extra time pinning pants and managing receipts manually, slowing down peak-time operations. One staff member explained, “The process works, but if one thing goes wrong, it affects the whole flow.”

Problem Statement

UNIQLO store staff and alteration teams at the UTC San Diego location struggle with inefficient communication, error-prone manual processes, and unreliable system notifications during the alteration workflow, leading to delayed orders, frustrated customers, and increased operational stress.

User Research

User Personas

Jason’s persona is based on the alteration team’s frustrations with unreliable notifications and inefficient order tracking. The research revealed that staff heavily relied on radio communication instead of Waitwhile, highlighting a lack of trust in the system. His experience reflects how manual processes create bottlenecks and slow down operations.

John represents the managerial perspective, which was heavily impacted by communication breakdowns and inefficient order tracking. His persona is informed by findings that managers were not notified when orders were ready, leading to operational disruptions and customer frustration.

Emily’s persona represents the customer perspective highlighted in the research. Staff mentioned that customers often missed updates due to errors in data entry and were sometimes frustrated when orders could not be found easily. This persona reflects the impact of operational inefficiencies on customer satisfaction.

Competitor Analysis

While existing queue management systems offer useful features, none fully fit Uniqlo’s needs. Qminder and Qless are powerful but expensive and hard to use. Doodle is simple but lacks key features like SMS updates. Suitedash has advanced automation but is too complex for Uniqlo’s workflow. This analysis highlights the need for a simple, affordable, and efficient solution that improves communication and order tracking without unnecessary complexity.

User Flows & Sketches

Our two prototype flows differ in how they organize information.

Flow 1 (Prototype A) mirrors Uniqlo’s physical order arrangement, making it easier for employees to locate alterations with less cognitive effort.

Flow 2 (Prototype B) keeps the traditional list format but improves clarity by streamlining order statuses, reducing search time and simplifying the process.

Based on Milestone 3 findings, we identified key issues in Uniqlo UTC’s alteration process, including inefficient communication, unreliable notifications, and unclear order tracking. Staff relied on radios due to missing automatic notifications, causing delays. To fix this, we introduced a notification system that tracks order progress and visually clarifies statuses like “Pending Confirmation” and “Ready for Pickup,” reducing manual follow-ups.

Adding new alterations was also problematic, as missing SMS opt-ins left customers uninformed. To solve this, we set SMS notifications to automatically on, ensuring customers receive updates without staff having to remember to enable them.

Designs

Low-fidelity

Both prototypes received positive feedback. Prototype A stood out for its novel order representation, while Prototype B felt more familiar but risked confusion due to its similarity to the current system. Users favored better order prioritization, clearer order IDs, and simplified visual representation. Adding color categorization and worktime statistics could further improve efficiency and motivate alteration specialists.

Prototype A

Strengths: Users liked the visual emphasis on due times, which helped prioritize urgent orders. Some specialists found the pants-based layout intuitive, as it mirrored the physical store setup. Color coding was seen as helpful for distinguishing order types.

Weaknesses: Some found the pants icons cluttered and preferred a simpler representation. The layout worked better for new employees, but experienced staff felt it disrupted their workflow by deviating from the familiar Waitwhile system.

Prototype B

Strengths: More familiar to existing Waitwhile users, reducing the learning curve. Users liked the "message customer" button and the simple order display, which made tracking alterations quick and efficient.

Weaknesses: Terminology for order statuses was confusing (e.g., "Pending Confirmation" wasn’t clear). Some users suggested sorting by picked-up vs. not-picked-up items and adding a symbol for completed orders.

Further Iterations

Initially, we considered coloring the entire order block to help users quickly distinguish between different order types. However, after testing, we found that this approach created visual clutter and made it harder to focus on key details. To improve readability and clarity, we instead implemented colored tags to represent different service types, making the information more distinguishable without overwhelming the interface. Additionally, we introduced a swiping action to move orders through different stages (e.g., Requested → In Progress → Completed), ensuring that actions are done with explicit intention.

Based on feedback from our TA, stakeholders, and peers, we refined the Requested page to enhance clarity and usability. The “Assign” icon was replaced with a more explicit “Assign” button, making it easier for employees to understand and use. Instead of a swipe gesture, we introduced a “Progress” button to move orders forward, ensuring clearer interaction and reducing accidental actions.

We also reformatted the order details, emphasizing waitlist times while making customer ID a secondary detail, as it is primarily used internally. To improve visual clarity, we retained color-coded tags for service types instead of coloring entire orders, making it easier to differentiate between alteration types without overwhelming the interface.

High-fidelity

Based on user feedback, we merged the structured list view of Prototype B with the enhanced visibility features of Prototype A to create a more intuitive and efficient workflow. The list format aligns with users’ existing mental model, while new features improve functionality and reduce errors. We introduced a swipe interaction for intentional order progression, added backward navigation for flexibility, and included a redo button for managers to ensure quality control. To enhance clarity, we emphasized due times and order IDs, making it easier for employees to track and prioritize alterations without visual clutter.

Add to Alteration Process

We redesigned the add to alteration process to improve usability and efficiency. An estimated pickup time was added to help staff manage orders more effectively. SMS notifications now default to "on" to ensure customers receive timely updates, while still allowing staff to opt out if needed. To reduce redundancy, we streamlined service details by consolidating sewing and service inputs into a single stitches information field, simplifying data entry for employees.

When staff click on the green assign button, they can swipe right to move the order to the in-progress phase. We also provided an undo option at the bottom to help prevent errors.

When users click on the green checkmark, the order is now waiting for the manager to check for quality. When managers swipe to the right, they can either confirm the order or to let the alteration redo the order.

When the manager clicks on redo, the order will return back to the in-progress phase and will be listed on top. When they click on “confirm”, then the order will move to the completed phase.

Requested to In-Progress

In-Progress to Completed

Redo Order

Final Takeaways

I learned a lot from this project about the importance of adapting designs based on real user needs and the value of iteration in the UX process.

User Feedback is Key – Initial ideas often change through user testing and iteration. Balancing stakeholder needs with usability is crucial for a successful design.
Familiarity vs. Innovation – While new designs can improve efficiency, users are often attached to existing workflows. Incremental improvements tend to work better than drastic changes.
Clarity Over Complexity – Simple, intuitive interactions (like replacing icons with clear buttons) reduce confusion and improve adoption. Visual clarity is just as important as functionality.
Context Matters – Designing for a specific environment (Uniqlo’s fast-paced store operations) required streamlining workflows and reducing unnecessary steps.
Color & UI Hierarchy – Color coding and layout refinements improved visual organization without overwhelming users. Prioritizing essential information (like due times) made the interface more effective.
Efficiency Drives Adoption – Employees will only adopt a new system if it genuinely saves time and reduces effort. Features like automated SMS notifications and progress buttons simplified tasks and improved usability.
Iterate & Adapt – Initial assumptions were challenged, leading to a merged prototype that combined the strengths of both versions. Flexibility in design is essential.

This project taught me to balance innovation with practicality and design for real-world needs. It showed me how small design choices can make a big difference in efficiency and usability.