Modern Service Design Thinking on Traditional Culture-Based Services: A Case Study of the Service Businesses in Suzhou Old Town Areas

Historical geography is concerned with the geographies of the past and with the influence of the past in shaping the geographies of the present and the future (Gregory et al. 2009). The historical areas and streets discussed in this study refer to those built in the historical period and still in use by contemporary citizens with the streets’ original traits well kept. Along with the development of urban space, these areas and streets have become a combination of landscape space, tourism space, cultural space, leisure space, and business space.

Based on the geographic and historical characteristics of the space, the businesses running within the area provide a platform for cultural consumption. In this study, the historical streets of Pingjiang Road and Shantang Street in Suzhou, China are selected as representative examples to explore and analyze the service activities. Specifically, the research focuses more on the service businesses that have Suzhou local culture or Chinese culture in general as part of their value propositions.

1.1 Cultural Consumption

Historical districts with modern lifestyle are urban spaces revived for enticing activities of consuming not only material goods but also the imputed historical and cultural meanings in these sites (Yu 2017). It’s the development of “symbolic economy” (Zukin 1995) that makes the business services in these districts special. A “display culture” (Dicks 2012) is usually being created in this type of areas with historical architecture and cultural relics on display. And entrepreneurs are invited to invest in renovating the buildings in the area, turning them into places for consuming publics to experience the traditional local culture (Yu 2017). For the customers, purchasing commodities is not just a consumption activity, but also the behavior of engaging the local history and culture. The customers’ experiences are largely “framed” by the branding of the space (Goffman 1974).

1.2 Service Design Thinking Principles

The basic thinking patterns in this study are based on the five principles of service design thinking proposed by Stickdorn (2011), which are User-centered, Co-creative, Sequencing, Evidencing, and Holistic. They are described as follows.

User-Centered

According to Stickdorn (2011), a certain degree of customer participation is necessary to deliver services in that the inherent intention of which is to meet the customer’s needs. Beyond the thinking, a user-centered approach will bring together a set of focused methods and tools for the service designer to gain a comprehensive understanding of an individual’s experiences, habits, motivations and the wider context on a cultural and social term.

Co-Creative

Generally speaking, there is usually more than one type of customer groups involved in designing a service. Besides, other types of stakeholders involved such as suppliers and employees may also possess various expectations and requirements. In order to gain insights from different perspectives, an environment of co-creation that facilitates the generation of ideas within heterogeneous stakeholder groups can be created. By including different parties in a design process, efficient communications and interactions between the stakeholders could be evoked, which may also result in long-term engagement.

Sequencing

One of the most significant differences between designing a product and designing a service is that a service is a dynamic process that takes place over a certain period of time. To control the rhythm of a service, service design thinking deconstructs the design process into discrete touchpoints, which represent the contact points between a customer and the service provider. The sequence of these touchpoints needs to be choreographed to achieve an integrated act. The systematic communication between the service and the customer will ensure a climactic progress of the customer’s emotions.

Evidencing

During the service process, intangible experience takes place inconspicuously. To make customers aware of intangible services and prolong service experiences into the post-service period, physical evidence such as souvenirs can be used to trigger the memory of the service and establish emotional associations.

Holistic

Furthermore, the design of touchpoints should not be put into account without considering the physical environment and the wider context where the service takes place. As Stickdorn (2011) claimed, service design thinking supports the co-operation of different disciplines towards the goal of corporate success through enhanced customer experiences, employee satisfaction, and integration of sophisticated technological processes in pursuing corporate objectives.

2.1 Field Study

Pingjiang Road and Shantang Street (Fig. 1) are located in the eastern-central and northwest parts of Suzhou historical district (Fig. 2). Both areas were included in the list of the first 30 historic and cultural streets and districts of China. The recognizing bodies include the State Administration of Cultural Heritage and the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of the People’s Republic of China. In addition to the landscapes and architectures, the areas are now commercial districts and popular tourist sites after years of restoration and renovation. The streets are lined with local businesses selling products and providing services that speak of the local culture, including teahouses, opera theaters, shops, bookstores… etc. Pingjiang Road and Shantang Street are the typical fields with various elements including landscape, tourism, culture and modern business. Studying the background of the sites help the service designers to gain a boarder understanding of the services, potential users, and other stakeholders.

Typical sceneries of Pingjiang Road (left) and Shantang Street (right)

Full size image

The locations of Pingjiang Road and Shantang Street (Wang et al. 2015)

Full size image

2.2 Selected Service Cases

To investigate into the services in the chosen sites, 15 service businesses on Pingjiang Road and Shantang Street were selected as the representativel cases. The basic information of these cases are listed in Table 1. As Flick (2009) and Mason (2002) stated, the emphasis in data collection for within-case and across-case analyses, is on interviews, archives, and (participant) observation. In this study, the method of participatory observation has contributed significantly to the understanding of the chosen cases.

2.3 Tools

This part introduces the main service design tools used in conducting this research study. A case example will be demonstrated for the use of each tool. Some of the tools might be particularly useful at one specific stage and others are utilized throughout the study.

Stakeholder Maps

As shown in Fig. 3, a stakeholder map was drawn at the exploration stage as a visual representation of the various groups involved in studying the case of Ting Yun Agilawood, a retail store selling tea and agilawood. A comprehensive list of stakeholders and their relationships are visualized, including the staff, customers, competitors, government…etc. By representing the stakeholders in this way, the interplay (indicated by the red arrows) between various groups can be revealed. For example, the relationship between the suppliers and the government needs to be considered in terms of providing tea and agilawood-related supplies and setting the price range. Further, these groups can be clustered together by their shared interests or importance and influence on the service, allowing the service provider to deploy the resources effectively. In this case, the stakeholders are divided into internal groups and external groups.

The stakeholder map of Ting Yun Agilawood (Color figure online)

Full size image

Customer Journey Maps

A customer journey map provides a structured visualization of a user’s experience. In the case of observing Higher Tea House (Fig. 4), a time-based customer journey map (pre-order – order – eating and watching – pay – leave) is constructed to show all the touchpoints that allow the customers interact with the service. Centered around the customer’s perspective, the user insights and the factors influencing the user experience are clearly shown with this method. For example, a customer may be inspired by the elegant environment when entering the tea house but feel down when kept waiting for the dishes. Besides, breaking the experience into segments based on specific touchpoints helps identify both the problematic areas potentials for future improvement.

The customer journey map of Higher Tea House

Full size image

Mobile Ethnography

The functions of smart phones have become really versatile. They serve as a great ethnographic tool for collecting user-centered information. For example, the images taken in Higher Tea House (Fig. 5) provides snapshots of how the service operation of the tea house is perceived by the customer. The images also provide good cues for identifying the touchpoints in the eyes of the customers, which may be different from those originally designated by the service provider.

The photo records of Higher Tea House

Full size image

Storyboards

Figure 6 shows a series of drawings indicating the hypothetical implementation of the new service design for Xian Feng Traditional Restaurant. Through directly visualizing a sequence of events, the contextual details and touchpoints of dining in the restaurant are revealed and reviewed at ease. The analysis and discussions regarding the potential opportunities and problems can then be facilitated by the detailed simulation of actual scenarios.

The storyboards for the possible service scenarios in Xian Feng Traditional Restaurant

Full size image

Desktop Walkthrough

A small-scale mock-up of Higher Tea House service environment is made, as shown in Fig. 7. A desktop walkthrough is a highly flexible and engaging manner for iterative refinements. New situations and touchpoints are easily provoked simply by moving the characters around.

Desktop walkthrough technique for developing service sequences in Higher Tea House

Full size image

Service Blueprints

A service blueprint for the snuff shop is demonstrated in Fig. 8. In this blueprint, each individual aspect of the service is specified, incorporating the perspectives of the customer, the service provider and other stakeholders that may get involved. The blueprint also specifies the details of the whole process from the very initial touchpoint to behind-the-scenes, as well as the interplays between different stakeholders.

The service blueprint for Yi De Cheng Snuff

Full size image

3.1 Business Services on Pingjiang Road and Shantang Street

Based on the historical and cultural appealing of Pingjiang Road and Shantang Street, the business services in these districts not only sell commodities, they also invite the visitors to enjoy the landscape, appreciating the traditional artefacts, and indulge in the atmosphere. The commercial activities vary from retail stores selling traditional handicrafts to teahouses for experiencing the traditional way of sipping tea and listening to appreciating Chinese musical performances such as Pingtan, a storytelling and ballad singing in Suzhou dialect. There are also museums of traditional arts such as the local opera known as Kunqu. As the tourist sites for inheriting the historical culture over 1000 years old, both Pingjiang Road and Shantang Street have been shouldering the responsibility to accommodate tourists from all over the world and exhibit the rich forms of regional cultures.

3.2 Profiles of Service Users/Customers

Different from the traditional consumers whose consumption behaviors center on everyday goods, the tourist consumers of modern age display a much more active attitude that focuses on satisfying certain lifestyles they wish to pursue (Lewis and Bridger 2000). For the tourists who visit Pingjiang Road and Shantang Street, what they consume, in addition to the material needs gained from the goods and services, are the added value from the cultural significance attached to them. Normally, the tourists look for unique intangible experience as well as tangible goods with exquisite aesthetics to memorize the trip. Besides, the fact that tourists constitute a major part of the target consumers suggests that the target consumers may have planned and fixed time slots for staying in the area.

3.3 Thematic Issues

The visualization tools such as the customer journey map provide the common frames of references to compare the included service cases. Upon reviewing the visualization data generated for the cases, we can easily identify and aggregate common issues among them. They are discussed as follows.

Lack of User-Centered Practices

With only one or two staff members working in some stores, the customers can be easily overlooked. The long waiting time would influence the service sequences that are constructed with different touchpoints. For example, Yi De Cheng Snuff, which is known for its unique snuff making techniques based on natural raw materials. When analyzing its customer journey map, we found different customers could stay at different stages in the service process. While some might be reading the background knowledge of the snuff displayed on the walls, some might be trying out the snuff, and some might be selecting the snuff bottles. With only one staff member assisting the customers in their diverse activities, it is inevitable that some customers would be neglected.

Lack of Attractive Touchpoint

As mentioned, tourists usually have a somewhat optimized schedule and it is often not possible for them to visit every shop during the tours. Thus, establishing an salient first touchpoint would gain competitive strength in attracting the customers. Take Ting Yun Agilawood as an example. The front gate is rather small and decorated in a plain style, which does not help the business much in diverting the flow of people into its service.

Lack of Tangible Evidence

As the principle of evidencing states, physical evidences such as souvenirs can help trigger the memory of the service and establish emotional associations. But for most of the service cases in the study, many intangible aspects of the services remain abstract and difficult to be registered as service memories. In the case of Xi Yang Jing located on Shantang Street, the customers are paying for experiencing the traditional peep show. While the core value of the service is building up a memorable experience, the customers are left with no tangible evidences after the performance.

Lack of Cross-Culture Practices

As observed on site, foreign visitors are particularly intrigued by different forms of cultural experience in the district. However, almost all of the service cases have not provided multi-language introductions and instructions. Cultural appreciation relies on the understanding of background context, which is often conveyed through the language used in the region. And how to remove this barrier for foreign visitors is always a challenging issue. For example, Qing Yu Tang is a theater for customers to drink tea and experience Suzhou Pingtan, which is a traditional stage performance combining story-telling, singing, and playing music instruments. Though it could be an in-depth cultural experience for the foreigners, there is no multilingual signage or translation service available to explain what Pingtan is or the tea culture in Suzhou.

We have carried out an empirical investigation on the two famous heritage sites in Suzhou, an ancient city with over 1000-year-old historical culture. We position the work as a cross-cultural enquiry based on the encounter between modern design thinking and traditional service models employed in the selected service businesses. We have used various methods and techniques, at both principle and practical levels, to analyze the cases and identify their thematic issues. The work is by all means exploratory and an initial attempt to apply modern design methods to culture-based services in this historical region. Repeated visits to the sites and the deeper collaborations with the service businesses are surely the next step to pursue. Nevertheless, we suggest some potential improvements below based on the initial findings.

Multiple Platforms

Before physically enjoying the service, customers nowadays usually encounter the first touchpoint with the service on the internet. Online platforms such as Dianping, Wechat and Weibo build up a virtual space for people to share their experiences and opinions on a service. Specifically, anyone can visit the site to search for a teahouse on Pingjiang Road, read the reviews from other customers, and learn about the recommended services. Through the series of commenting and searching activities, the user of the platform is connected with the teahouse service in the virtual space. For the service providers, it is an opportunity to establish their media impression for engaging regular visitors and reaching potential customers. Online media play an important role in introducing, shaping, and sharing the services.

Richer Content and Form

To adapt to the modern context, the content of the cultural experience could be adjusted. For example, the themes of peep shows could include foreign culture or new technologies to be more educational and inspiring. Besides, computers and other automated mechanisms can be used to replace human labor force on iterative service functions, including introducing the background and basic knowledge of a certain type of culture. For example, setting up digital screens showcasing the background of Kunqu or explaining the local way of sipping tea could save a considerable amount of time and energy.