Reimagine Retail with Martin Granström, VP Head of Product Design & Research at Sam’s Club

03-01-2024 • 34 mins

Welcome to this week's episode of Masters of Max, this time featuring an exciting conversation with Martin Granström, head of design for retail giant Sam's Club. With a 20+ years career in product design and UX, Martin's journey has taken him from implementing error handling systems for nuclear plants to leading design teams at Sony Mobile, and now to redefining the retail experience at Sam's Club.

Offering a unique perception into the evolving world of physical and digital design, Martin discusses driving innovation through both cross functional teams and customer-focused problem solving. He emphasizes the importance of combining physical and digital design to create holistic experiences for customers where every element of interaction feels cohesive and intuitive.

Martin unveils 'Clubhouse', a design studio space that emphasizes physical prototyping and testing, allowing rapid implementation across all facets of the customer experience. Clubhouse not only brings innovation to life but democratises it by providing a tool and a space that belongs to everyone in Sam's Club, promoting innovation by functionally enhancing both linear and lateral thinking.

Towards the end of the interview, valuable insights are shared for businesses aiming to enhance their mobile engagement and app offerings. Martin suggests that instead of focusing efforts on fixed high-sales seasons, businesses should strive to meet customer needs throughout the year, making every interaction count. Having dedicated design teams in-house allows for greater control and continuous innovation, ultimately resulting in a better, personalised user experience.

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Guest Bio

Martin Granström is the Head of Product Design at Sam’s Club, one of the largest US retailers serving more than 47 million members through 597 clubs in the US and more than 200 internationally. Martin and his team oversee the complete end-to-end experience for members and associates, from the club’s back room to the member’s living room—and all the interactions in between.

Martin has been a design leader for over 15 years. During his tenure, he has created and led complex and multi-faceted experience strategy & design teams, driving innovation projects for the IoT, AI and appliances and working on mobile products that are available in 80 languages and more than 224 countries--making life connected for the consumer globally. He holds patents for a system that allows multiple mobile devices to control the music playback of a lead device and for receiving user input on a graphical user interface.

Throughout his career, Martin’s design philosophy has always been to deliver business benefits through customer engagement and delight. Simply put, it’s to ‘take it from business to buttons’.

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Guest Quote

"One of the things that we've seen and that has evolved over the years is that combination of physical and digital design. For retail, It's very relevant, just because as a customer, as a member, you do both. And why wouldn't we as experienced creators, think about both holistically?" – Martin Granström

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Time Stamps

*(01:10) Martin's Background

*(05:34) When Martin joined Sam's Club

*(07:34) Fostering designer engagement

*(09:22) "The Prototype a Month"

*(11:37) Combining physical and digital design

*(13:15) Reimagining Retail

*(16:39) What is "Clubhouse?"

*(21:20) How designing in a physical space informs digital experience

*(24:36) Diving into design systems

*(27:42) How have the holidays changed for retail?