Rite Aid
5
min read
Rite Aid, founded in 1962, is one of America's largest pharmacy chains with a significant retail and digital presence. In early 2024, the company faced a critical inflection point. After experiencing strong performance during the COVID-19 pandemic through pharmaceutical sales, the company encountered significant headwinds as prescription volumes normalized.
This business challenge coincided with organizational turmoil in the digital team:
The UX department had undergone multiple leadership changes, losing a large portion of their talent
Decision-making had become fragmented, with departments operating in silos
The Finance team controlled product roadmapping through spreadsheets, without customer input
The design team's productivity had dropped significantly
Feature decisions were made without customer validation or reliable data
As the newly hired Head of Design & Research, I was tasked with transforming how the organization made product decisions and elevating the design team's impact during a challenging period.
Timeline: 4 Months
Role: Head of Design & Research
Team: Cross-functional collaboration with Product, Engineering, Analytics, Customer Experience, Legal, and McKinsey consultants
I identified two key user groups for our feedback system:
Planners
Decision makers who needed broad insights for strategic planning:
Marketers
Customer Experience Team Strategists
Business Analysts
Executives
Product Managers
Use Case: Making informed decisions about roadmap prioritization, business strategy, acquisition strategy, funding, and timeline planning.
Makers
Hands-on team members who needed detailed user insights:
Marketing Creatives (Copywriters, Production Designers)
Product Designers & UX
Engineers
Product Managers
Use Case: Making micro-decisions in designs/content and creating validated hypotheses for testing.
The organization faced multiple critical issues:
Post-COVID decline in pharmaceutical sales leading to financial distress
UX team depleted by 80% through multiple leadership changes
Design decisions made in departmental silos without customer input
Product roadmapping controlled by Finance using spreadsheets
Low team productivity (2 features per quarter)
Lack of customer validation in feature decisions
Unreliable and inaccessible data
Design team operating in isolation from other departments
Key Constraints
Remote team distributed across multiple time zones
HIPAA compliance requirements for data collection
4-month deadline for proof of concept
Multiple consulting partners with competing processes
Pressure to execute quickly while maintaining quality
Upon joining, I developed a comprehensive vision focused on four key pillars:
Before implementing the customer feedback system, we achieved significant organizational improvements:
Grew product design team to 16 designers with 100% retention
Created clear lane ownership in collaboration with product
Established lane-specific objectives, goals, and vision
Developed team-driven leveling expectations
Implemented streamlined Scrum process aligned with design, product, and engineering needs
Increased velocity from 2 to 12 features per quarter
Enabled 3-sprint advance planning
Introduced Design QA process (UAT) to ensure build-design consistency
Created documentation standards for scalable learning
Established regular design critiques and competency scaling
Implemented structured 1:1s and lane standups for goal tracking and mentorship
1. Data Collection Infrastructure
Built a Qualtrics dashboard to capture customer feedback across digital platforms
Intercepted 400+ customers monthly (statistically significant sample)
Collected key metrics including:
User intentions and journey paths
SUPR-Q scores (trust, loyalty, aesthetics, usability)
Demographic information
Open-ended feedback
2. System Implementation
- Rapid feedback intake system setup (6-month target)
- Machine learning training for taxonomy classification
- Team training for maintenance and reporting
- Established platform ownership and data integrity processes
- Built features based on customer needs and feedback
3. Automated Analysis System
- Trained natural language processing to categorize feedback by topic and business unit
- Created automated ranking based on impact scores and frequency
- Implemented HIPAA-compliant data handling processes
- Democratized access to insights across the organization
4. Cross-Functional Integration
- Established bi-weekly insight readouts for all business units
- Integrated customer feedback into design processes
- Provided product teams with data-driven prioritization tools
- Gave engineering confidence in feature decisions
- Equipped executives with richer customer understanding
Based on customer feedback and business needs, we launched eight customer-driven features. Here's some examples:
Interactive Weekly Ad
Problem: Most-engaged digital channel was limited by outdated third-party platform, offering poor mobile experience and clunky PDF-based interaction.
Solution: Rebuilt weekly ad experience with modern, responsive design and seamless shopping integration.
Impact: Enhanced user engagement with local deals and improved conversion from browsing to purchase.
Mixed Fulfillment
Problem: Siloed pharmacy (82%) and retail (18%) experiences prevented unified transactions and limited upsell opportunities.
Solution: Created unified cart experience enabling mixed pharmacy/retail orders with flexible fulfillment options (pickup/delivery).
Impact: Increased cross-department sales and improved customer convenience through consolidated ordering.
Account Setup & Gamification
Problem: Fragmented accounts across general online, pharmacy, and rewards systems created confusion and reduced program participation.
Solution: Developed unified account system with gamified onboarding, rewarding users with retail points for completing setup steps.
Impact: Increased program enrollment and engagement while simplifying account management.
Rite Aid Design System (RADS)
Problem: Inconsistent design elements across platforms (200+ button types) created fragmented user experience and inefficient design process.
Solution: Built comprehensive design system from atomic elements up, standardizing components across all digital platforms.
Impact: Improved consistency of customer experience and increased design team efficiency.
During my tenure, we transformed Rite Aid's digital product development approach from the ground up. The team launched eight customer-driven features while dramatically reducing development cycles from quarters to sprints. We rebuilt the design organization by hiring and onboarding ten new team members, implementing quality standards and critique processes, and establishing centralized documentation.
Most significantly, we shifted from Finance-led to customer-driven roadmapping, integrating qualitative data into our decision-making process. This new approach fostered improved cross-functional collaboration and established scalable research capabilities that continue to inform product decisions today.
SUPR-Q
↑ Avg SUPR-Q (Q2Q)
Feature Unlocks
Incremental Net Revenue
Quick Setup
Setup Time (Months)
New Skills
↑ New UXR Mentees
Team NPS
↑ Avg Team Score (Resources)
Retained Talent
Employee Retention
Increased Throughput
↑ Avg Feature Release / Quarter
Reduced Dev Time
↓ Avg Sprints to Complete
This transformation revealed several crucial insights about organizational change. We found that democratizing data access naturally created buy-in across departments, while amplifying customer voices helped shift even the most entrenched decision-making processes.
Our strategy of securing quick wins proved essential in building momentum for larger transformational efforts. The project's success ultimately hinged on cross-functional involvement, though we learned to carefully balance speed with quality by implementing systematic processes. These lessons continue to guide Rite Aid's approach to digital product development.
