Project Overview
To elevate Overstock’s retail strategy and align employees, investors, and business partners, I crafted the Retail Strategy Document—a one-pager that succinctly captures the company’s financial goals, target customers, brand pillars, and annual initiatives. Designed for accessibility and clarity, this document serves as a constant reminder of our strategic focus, both internally and externally, and is distributed annually as a physical copy while also being available on the company intranet.
The Challenge
As Overstock’s strategy evolved, there was a need to ensure that the key focus areas—financial objectives, customer targets, brand values, and strategic initiatives—were clear and easily accessible to everyone within the company, as well as to external stakeholders like investors and business partners. The challenge was to distill these complex ideas into a simple, memorable format that could be referred to throughout the year.
My Role
As the lead designer and strategist, I played a key role in the development of the Retail Strategy Document, including:
✅ Collaborating with Leadership: I participated in discussions with company leadership to determine which aspects of the retail strategy should be highlighted, ensuring that the final document would align with our broader business objectives.
✅ Design & Documentation: I created the one-pager, blending design with strategic content to produce a cohesive document that clearly communicates our vision, goals, and initiatives.
✅ Ensuring Accessibility: I made sure that the document was easy to access, both in physical form and digitally, on the company intranet.
Approach & Solution
1. Collaborative Strategy Development
- Goal: Highlight the most important elements of Overstock’s strategy in a way that resonates with both internal and external stakeholders.
- Solution: I worked closely with company leadership to define the document’s focus. After several iterations, we settled on key components such as financial goals, target customers, brand pillars, and annual initiatives. The aim was to ensure that these focal points were clear and aligned with the company’s strategic direction.
- Outcome: The document became a clear and effective representation of Overstock’s retail strategy, ensuring that every stakeholder, whether internal or external, was aligned with the same vision.
2. Concise Design with Impact
- Goal: Present a visually appealing and easy-to-understand document that would be memorable and serve as a consistent reference.
- Solution: I designed the one-pager with simple, yet striking graphics and an intuitive layout to allow for quick scanning and easy reference. The design focused on balancing visual appeal with clarity, using color and typography to emphasize key areas like financial goals and strategic initiatives.
- Outcome: The design ensured that the strategy was visually engaging and highly readable, helping employees and stakeholders quickly grasp the key points and stay aligned with our objectives.
3. Annual Distribution & Ongoing Visibility
- Goal: Ensure that the Retail Strategy Document remained top-of-mind for employees throughout the year.
- Solution: To maximize visibility, I helped place physical copies of the document on easels at each entrance on Overstock’s campus, ensuring that every employee had easy access to it. We also displayed the strategy on all TVs across the campus, reinforcing its importance. Additionally, the document was made available as a PDF on the company intranet (OLife), so employees could always reference it digitally.
- Outcome: The strategy document became an omnipresent feature in the company, constantly reminding employees of Overstock’s retail goals, and ensuring they remained aligned with the company’s vision.
4. Public Access for Stakeholders
- Goal: Ensure that the document was accessible to investors and business partners.
- Solution: The Retail Strategy Document was made publicly available and shared during Overstock’s Q1 and Q2 2021 earnings calls. This ensured transparency and kept investors and business partners up-to-date with our strategy.
- Outcome: The document not only served internal purposes but also positioned Overstock as a transparent company that values communication with stakeholders.
Results & Impact
✅ Clear Alignment Across Teams: The one-pager helped ensure that all employees were aligned with Overstock’s key strategic goals, financial targets, and initiatives.
✅ Increased Transparency: By making the document available publicly, we maintained transparency with investors and business partners, reinforcing Overstock’s commitment to clear communication.
✅ Ongoing Visibility: The strategic document remained in constant view for employees across multiple touchpoints, from campus displays to digital access on the company intranet, ensuring that it was always front-of-mind.
✅ Enhanced Brand Consistency: The Retail Strategy Document became a cohesive representation of Overstock’s vision, reinforcing the brand’s identity and making sure that everyone was on the same page.
