For many homeowners, undertaking a renovation project is an exciting time, a chance to turn dreams into reality. But it’s also fraught with unknowns, which can leave people feeling overwhelmed and disempowered. Research commissioned by Reece, Australia’s leading supplier of bathroom, plumbing, waterworks and HVAC-R products, found that more than a third of bathroom renovators agreed that one of their biggest pain points was not being able to visualize the end result. The insights from this research became a catalyst for innovation.
Reece partnered with Thoughtworks for their integrated tech, design and digital innovation experience, to develop a modern 3D bathroom planner tool that lets customers pick products, see the end results, and have more confidence when making decisions. The tool is also used by Reece’s showroom consultants, as well as trades, to close renovation contracts and proposals.
Empowering customers through digital experiences
The tool, aptly named Imagin3D™, empowers customers with planning by offering a simple and seamless user experience. To achieve this, the blended Reece and Thoughtworks team had to simplify the complexities of 3D architectural design so that it felt intuitive for consumers. They also added natural interactions with drag and drop, millimeter-precision positioning and measurements, and beautiful 3D visuals rendered in real-time on both desktop and mobile. To enhance the feeling of planning a real-life bathroom, a glassmorphic design style (a technique which emulates the quality of frosted glass to add texture and dimensionality) was used to add a touch of realism.
It feels that [the Imagin3D tool] is a Reece service or platform. It should feel like that, and I think that’s a great testimony to Thoughtworks’ success.
It feels that [the Imagin3D tool] is a Reece service or platform. It should feel like that, and I think that’s a great testimony to Thoughtworks’ success.
Improving customer experiences with real-time insights
Running discovery and delivery in parallel allowed the team to learn from customers in real time, delivering business value while reducing the risks of releasing a new product. This in turn informed prioritization and uncovered useful insights. Some features that the team initially thought were critical for the minimum viable product, users were not concerned about. For example, users were satisfied with the basic categories and a text search tool over an advanced product filtering feature. Some other features were much more critical than the team initially thought, like moving products with arrow keys.
Harnessing the latest innovations in 3D technology
Reece and Thoughtworks engineers applied industry best practices including pair programming, test-driven development and continuous delivery, to ensure the tool meets the highest technical and quality standards. Technologies like Three.js, WebGL and React Three Fiber ensured the team were harnessing the latest innovations in web-based 3D technology. Importantly, new features can be developed and released to users in days, rather than weeks or months.
Customers are at the heart of everything that we do so we want to ensure that the customer experience is great across all touchpoints that they go through.
Customers are at the heart of everything that we do so we want to ensure that the customer experience is great across all touchpoints that they go through.
Bringing dream bathroom ideas to life
In just six and a half months, Reece launched its 3D Bathroom Planner for pilot program testing. The tool has helped over 30,000 customers bring their dream bathrooms to life in just three months since launch. Reece will continue to meet where their customers are, with proactive testing and feedback to inform how the visualization tool can solve their customers’ challenges in other parts of the home.
Thoughtworks received a prestigious Good Design Award Winner Accolade in Australia under the Digital Design category for Reece's Imagin3D™, alongside project partners Reece, Trout Creative Thinking and Resolve Insight.
There’s nothing we love more than solving problems and this project gave our team not just the right balance of technical challenges and interesting problems to solve, but also the autonomy and support to do that.
There’s nothing we love more than solving problems and this project gave our team not just the right balance of technical challenges and interesting problems to solve, but also the autonomy and support to do that.
About Reece
Reece Group is a leading Australian distributor of plumbing, bathroom, waterworks and HVAC-R products to both commercial and residential customers. The Reece business began in 1919 when Harold Joseph Reece started selling hardware products out of the back of his truck. Today, Reece is a major public company with close to 850 branches and showrooms across Australia, New Zealand and the United States. Through its premium showrooms, Reece consultants bring expertise and experience to all projects, helping its customers access the right information and tools to create a bathroom better than imagined.
