Team
UXs, Data Scientist, Machine Learning Engineer, Engineers, PM, BCG Venture Arquitectures and Zeiss Stakeholders
Zeiss
Designing an AR
Vision Care Journey in China
Transforming fragmented eye care into a personalized vision-care ecosystem and a new growth opportunity for ZEISS.
Responsibilities
My role involved turning emerging opportunities from scratch into validated concepts through intensive research and a compelling, detailed design process to launch.
Context
BCG Digital Ventures (now BCG X) combines strategy, design, engineering, and venture capital thinking to create startups with large enterprises. We partnered with ZEISS to identify and validate new growth opportunities in the Chinese vision care market to build and launch the venture.
Through extensive customer research, service design, concept validation, and venture and design development, we shaped a compelling B2C, individualized, end-to-end digital eye care journey for every spectacle wearer in China.
Product Goals
Providing a compelling and individualized end-to-end digital eye care journey for every spectacle wearer in China.
Research and Validation Phase
From detailed market and user research that involved understanding of the Chinese Digital ecosystem, the eyewear ecosystem, competitive ecosystem analysis, and initial user research, 5 business concepts were created to be pitched to Zeiss Stakeholders.
Initial Research involved 10 in-depth industry expert interviews, 20+ consumer in-depth interviews, 1000+ quantitative survey respondents, and UX strategic competitor ecosystem analysis, which helped us identify core user needs and market opportunities.
Core Research Phase Outcomes
- Core tech for virtual try-on was a part of the latest standard AR kits (tech research).
- No company seemed to try to offer a strong eyewear-specific user experience.
- Eye exams are a core missing part of a seamless and convenient online eyewear experience - 90% of Chinese don't have a prescription at hand.
- 40% of parents are willing to spend a lot of money and time on eye care for their kids.
- Despite having started as a pure online player, even main players are still pretty much offline-focused.
Chinese Digital Ecosystem Learnings
With one app in China, you can book a taxi, order take-out, pay your electricity bill, and plan your next vacation.
Moreover, e-commerce companies in China are positioned differently than Western companies, which made this venture even more interesting and complex from a UX strategic perspective. Digital tools and online applications cover many aspects of the daily lives of Chinese consumers, leading to a highly intertwined world of online and offline.
Design Challenges & Areas of Focus
- The Chinese digital ecosystem required fundamentally different product and UX approaches compared to European e-commerce models.
- There was significant disruptive potential in the eyewear market driven by growing health awareness and an expanding online spectacles market.
- Multiple opportunity areas existed across the current eyewear customer journey to enrich user experiences and deliver real value.
- Eye exams were the core missing piece — 90% of Chinese consumers do not have a current prescription at hand, blocking the path to online purchase.
- Despite starting as online players, even the leading market competitors remained predominantly offline-focused in their experience design.
Defining the Venture's Strategic Path
The Chinese digital ecosystem was an exciting field to play in, but different approaches to European e-commerce businesses are needed. To add on, there was a disruptive potential in the eyewear market in China due to increased awareness of eye health in a growing online spectacles market.
There were multiple opportunity areas in the current eyewear customer journey to enrich experiences for users and provide real value.
Outcome and Impact
From an initial field of five concepts validated against business and user criteria, we converged on a single, differentiated vision care venture tailored to the Chinese market.
The concept combined a virtual try-on experience, online vision screening, and a personalized product recommendation engine — addressing the core gap identified in research: most Chinese consumers lack a current prescription and have no easy way to obtain one.
A working prototype was developed and validated through multiple rounds of user testing in China, confirming strong user interest and willingness to engage with digital vision screening and AR-enhanced frame selection.
The venture defined a new growth category for ZEISS in China, demonstrating the viability of a fully digital, end-to-end eye care journey and laying the groundwork for future product and commercial development.
