MACY'S LOVELAB
2025
PRODUCT & EXPERIENCE DESIGN
The NRF Foundation’s University Challenge is a national competition where students solve a real retail challenge and pitch their solution to executives over months of stages of intense competition.
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I was selected with three other UNT students to represent UNT at NRF 2026, partnering with Macy’s. Over the course of a year, we researched consumer behavior, identified gaps, created a robust idea with prototypes, competed against 60+ teams, and earned first place on the national stage.
THE PROBLEM
Between 2023 and 2024, Macy’s net sales fell 3.5%. They partnered with the NRF Foundation to get fresh student-led strategies to diagnose a real business opportunity, design an end-to-end concept, prove it with financials, and pitch it directly to company leadership.
This project called my team to address a cultural shift: shoppers want experiences that feel personal, not generic. This is because people feel less seen, more time-pressed, and more careful with money.
We had to translate that emotional need into something Macy’s could actually execute at scale through research, audits, and a modern, AI-aware experience.
Here’s how we created an award-winning concept for Macy’s that could earn them $67.9M in profit over 5 years.
20+
Initial unique concepts and ideas
100+
Target user survey respondents
12
Workshops with team and mentors
DELIVERABLES
DISCOVER
52%
74%
of customers say personalized experiences make them more likely to buy.​
of Gen Z and 44% of Millennials planned to give handmade or personalized gifts in 2024 according to data trends.
THERE'S A SHIFT IN GIFTING DECISIONS​
KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE
We researched Macy's target audiences, including the demographics of their online and in-store shoppers in order to position our personas and survey correctly.
​Personalized gift shoppers struggle to find options that are fast, affordable, high-quality, and trustworthy.
Based on insights from our survey, customers are often disappointed by long shipping times, poor product quality, and items that don’t match online photos when purchasing personalized gifts from retailers like Etsy, Amazon, and Nordstrom.
USER SURVEY
To better understand our target users, we surveyed 100+ participants and used 17 questions to explore gifting behaviors, pain points, motivations, and emotional drivers: revealing clear needs and opportunities.
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When it came to buying, three factors were crucial: uniqueness, personalization, and quality
Customization + Quality Drive Decisions
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88% said that Uniqueness, Customization, or Quality matter most when gift shopping
01
Gifting = Relationship Storytelling
91% of shoppers care deeply about what gifts say about their relationships.
02
Personalization Increases Willingness to Pay
Gifters are willing to spend 15 - 30% more for quality + personalization.
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GUIDING QUESTION:
How might we create a modern gifting solution for Macy's that feels personal and sentimental: while staying accessible and easy to use for all users?
PERSONAS
Based on our research, we created three personas to cover every style of Macy's target audience. All genders, 25-55, middle to upper-middle class, culturally diverse and multi-generational. We also used these users, as well as the survey responses, as a means to create empathy maps to truly understand pain points and motivations.
DRIVING INNOVATION THROUGH GROUP IDEATION
After a group ideation session, we pitched each individual idea to our mentors. Their top two ideas were engraving/embroidery, and a mix of the gifting kiosk and the pop-up shop ideas. We did get feedback that AI should be integrated and acknowledged, but should not be the entire idea.
Going forward with a tentative idea, we decided to research more into how other companies go about adding names/personalizations/monogramming to products.
STUDYING THE MARKET THROUGH COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
We had landed on product customization through embroidery/engraving, but what does that look like in the current landscape amongst other brands? Using user needs and pain points based on the survey to identify features needed by people searching for personalized gifts, we studied current and possible competitor brands:​
Macy's LoveLab didn’t arrive fully formed: we earned it through iteration.
It would be months before I began prototyping a final design.
We built several different pitches, a new one each week for three months. At the end of each week we'd run them through critique sessions with mentors, and let them do what they do best: tear it apart.
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The idea stayed steady, personalization for Macy’s shoppers, but the route changed constantly: we toyed with a 1-800-Flowers collaboration, an “all products” vision, seasonal-only launches, and even competitor-adjacent angles.
Another constraint we had was an undefined budget. We designed for reality and committed to a $5M model, which pushed us toward a tiered in-store strategy: kiosks in some locations, full customization bars in others.
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Competition pressure made us question if we were maybe "playing it safe," but we were confident that our idea aligned perfectly with Macy's and their target market's goals.
Week 3
Week 6
Week 8
Final
DESIGN
As the UX/UI design student, I led the visual design and user experience of our product concept, including ideation, layout, and flow.
While my teammates focused on marketing strategies, financial planning, and product curation, I translated our ideas into tangible, interactive designs, ensuring the concept was intuitive, engaging, and aligned with Macy’s brand.
The goal was to design accessible points of engagement through all of Macy’s channels, adding new actions online, and using competitor analysis to craft an in store experience.
PROTOTYPES
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In-Store Booth and Kiosk guide users through gift selection with personalization options.
In Store
Built with Blender, edited in Photoshop
Personalized Gifts page seamlessly built in to Macy's' original website:
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Bestsellers and visual guides with clear communication
User-friendly customization with 11 color choices, 3 fonts, 32 icons, and complete text/number input.
What if a customer needs a little extra help?
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GiftGuide AI is the Macy's personal shopper in your pocket.
Online
Online - Product Pages
Online - Added Intelligence/CX
Built with Figma
DELIVER
FINAL PRESENTATION TO FOUR OF MACY'S VPS IN NEW YORK
UNT AS THE WINNING TEAM ANNOUNCED AT THE NRF FOUNDATION HONORS CEREMONY
After months of collaboration, iteration, and mentor feedback, including three rounds of rigorous elimination, we developed and refined a final concept, complete with financials, launch timelines, a product array, research and prototypes.
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As a Team, we delivered:
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A cohesive omnichannel gifting concept aligned with Macy’s brand
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As the UX/UI member, I successfully delivered:
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Prototypes and high-fidelity mockups for both in-store and online experiences
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A visually compelling 20-Slide pitch deck
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Outcomes & Takeaways:
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Gained hands-on industry experience in product strategy
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Built confidence in pitching and presenting to executives and industry leaders
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JUDGE NOTES FROM SEMI-FINALIST & FINALIST ROUNDS
"It feels like you work for us already."
Erica Infantolino
Division VP, Macy's
"Their understanding of Macy's current business and the overall gifting customer + market landscape were strong and impressive."
Jennifer Cowhey
Senior Director Business Strategy, Macy's
"This was probably the best-looking deck out of all that I’ve scored! This skill will take you far."
Sarah Lundberg
Principle Strategy, Macy's
Curious to see how it all came together? View the final pitch deck here.
Left to right: Natasha Sturdevant (Visual and Product Design, Team Lead), Angel Ntenyi (Financials), LaTasia Burton (Merchandising), and Marcos Rodriguez (Strategy)