POS Repair Journey
Product Designer, Nov 2021 - Aug 2022
VanMoof is a global company united by one mission: helping people navigate their cities faster, smarter, and in style. As the company grew, so did the number of customer bikes and the demand for repairs. Repair services are a critical part of maintaining customer satisfaction. While POS is the main platform for retail teams to handle sales and service, they still rely on multiple internal tools to manage the repair process, making it time-consuming, complex, and ultimately frustrating for both staff and customers.
Roles and responsibilities
Planned project vision and roadmap with stakeholders.
Collaborated with product teams throughout the process.
Conducted user research, interviews, validation, and testing.
Defined feature requirements, user flows, and journeys.
Designed UI components, documented details, and reviewed implementation.
Improved features based on user feedback after pilot launch (Netherlands, June 2022) before global rollout (December 2022).
Process
I applied a user-centered design process to improve the repair experience, balancing user and business needs. Guided by research, I collaborated with stakeholders to brainstorm and design multiple solutions, then validated them through usability testing. Post-launch, I monitored global user feedback and iterated on the design to ensure we delivered the best possible experience.
User Research
We began by identifying key stakeholders during the initial planning session, followed by interviews to understand needs and challenges from both business and user perspectives. I then spent several days shadowing retail staff in Amsterdam, Eindhoven, and Utrecht to observe the full repair experience. To capture a global perspective, we held a workshop with store managers worldwide, mapping every step of their role in the customer journey.
Filed observation, shadowing uses and user interviews
I consolidated insights, defined the problem, and brainstormed solutions with the team. From this, I created retail user personas and a user journey map based on the rider’s experience, highlighting retail staff’s roles in the process. This clarified their needs, enabling us to design POS features that better support VanMoof customers and deliver the best possible experience.
I created a dedicated retail user flow for the repair process, along with an experience map based on the full customer journey—covering riders, customer support, bike doctors, and retail users. From this, I identified four main phases: planning repair, bike drop-off, in repair, and bike delivery.
Retail user flow in the repair process
4 main repair phrases:
The entire process of repair with all users
Challenges
One tool doesn’t fit all (too many tools in use)
The repair process required switching between multiple tools, starting in the Planning tool, moving to POS for on-the-spot bookings, and then into other systems to check availability. POS, designed for global use, often failed to meet local needs; payment methods that worked in Europe didn’t always work in the US or Japan. This constant switching and incompatibility slowed staff, made information hard to find, and caused frequent checkout issues.
Lack of transparency
Once a bike was sent for repair, neither staff nor customers could track its progress. Staff couldn’t provide updates, creating frustration on both sides.
No information at hands
During appointment creation and bike check-in, staff retrieved customer and bike details from multiple systems—often switching between POS, Odoo, and Backoffice. This was time-consuming and stressful, especially with long queues of waiting customers.
Lots of manual works
Much of the workflow relied on repetitive manual tasks such as searching, entering details, and completing steps one by one. This slowed the process and increased the risk of human error.
Uneditable price
Pricing errors were difficult to fix once a bike’s status changed to “ready to complete.” Staff had to create a new repair ticket for even minor corrections, which was especially problematic with repeat service issues or upset customers.
Design Goals
POS should be a one stop service for retail users. Where a user can complete all the necessary actions for the repair process. This will not only smoothen and quicken the process but provide more transparency through the entire repair experience.
HMW Question:
‘How might we make POS smoother and quicken the entire repair process’
Solution
After developing potential solutions, I created wireframes to test and evaluate ideas with users. We recruited 20 retail staff—mainly front-of-house employees who handle repairs and interact with customers—and conducted one-hour sessions across several store locations. The designs were iterated based on the findings.
1. Planning repair & bike check-in
The repair creation process is now fully integrated into POS, eliminating the need to switch between different systems.
All appointment types for all stores
POS now supports both scheduled and on-the-spot appointments for any store or certified workshop, enabling retail staff to offer customers the earliest and best repair options.
Information automation
By providing a customer name, a system can retrieve all necessary data from other systems. We can get the frame number, repair history and customer detail in a few clicks without the need for customers to ask or search by themselves. They no longer need to use different internal tools to get the required information.
When checking in the bike, the warranty &POM status will also be shown together with other appointment details. This can also be retrieved earlier in the repair creation stage. With this automation, we can reduce the amount of manual work, errors and steps to complete the process.
2. In repair
Transparency throughout the process
Every step of the bike repair journey can now be tracked from the moment the appointment is created. Retail staff can view all services, costs, and decisions made, enabling them to answer questions, provide details, and explain the repair summary to customers at any time.
3. Deliver bike
Editable price
The price-changing feature allows a retail user to edit the price by adding or removing discounts. When the user notices that a problem has persisted for a while and a customer doesn’t inflict damage to the bike him/herself. The discount can be applied on the bike. This would help to reduce the conflicts with customers.
Universal Payment
Covering all the preferred payment methods for customers from 6 countries where our stores are located. This includes credit card, payment link, and cash. This resolves the previous issues that we have with Japanese customers.
Takeaway
Product improvement is ongoing
Post-release, we maintain close contact with users through a global Slack channel and monthly check-ins with store managers. These touchpoints surface valuable feedback and unexpected insights, driving continuous improvements.
Stakeholders are essential
Not involving the Rider team early doubled our workload and delayed delivery. Every feature affects multiple teams, so identifying and engaging key stakeholders from the start is crucial for alignment and success.
Validate, don’t assume
Past launches taught us that assumptions can miss the mark. Some features failed because they didn’t address the real user problems. Validation and testing must be embedded in our process to ensure we deliver what users truly need.