Research a Grocery Store App

Overview

My client has recruited me to find out how their grocery store app, Grocery Prime, can help solve shoppers' pain points. To achieve this, I'll be creating a solution prototype for the primary pain point uncovered during the research phase, which consists of interviewing real users and documenting their experience while using the app.

I employed my people skills to connect with the interviewees, while using my research tools (detailed below) to pinpoint pain points in the user's journey.

The project deliverables included: interviewing target users via recorded Zoom calls, User Testing with interactive Prototypes (using Adobe XD), organizing data with an Affinity Diagram, comparing brands like Kroger, Amazon.com and New Seasons for Competitive Analysis, and creating Brand Design through sketches, wireframes and Mockups.

Problem/Pain Point

After interviewing Kenny, a restaurant owner in Portland, Oregon I discover that the primary point I wish to address is this: Order Errors.

Kenny oftentimes discovers errors in his online order. The lack of accuracy/attention to detail forces him to reorder his groceries, which takes up valuable time he could be spending on running his restaurant. Furthermore, the frustration of requesting the correct items affects his user experience.

To ensure customer retention and improve the experience of Grocery Prime's users, a solution is imperative.

Audience

My target audience consists of 25 - 50 year olds who already order groceries online or through an app. My candidates:

The owner of a popular Latin Fusion restaurant who orders groceries through an app
A Safeway delivery driver
Two middle age ladies who both order groceries for curbside pickup
Two 20-something guys who are active Amazon Prime users

My key areas of inquiry were:

Time management (hours per week, scheduling)
Shopping process (grocery list, meal planning, self checkout)
Pricing (buget allownace)
Selection (organic options, specialty items, etc)
Experience (stressful, enjoyable, neutral?)

Interview Questions

1. How many times per week do you grocery shop?

2. What time do you typically go?

3. Can you walk me through your shopping process?

4. What's most important to you when shopping?

5. What is your typical mood when shopping?

6. What is your experience using shopping apps?

Solution

After assimilating the interview and research data, I decided to provide a solution to the pain point of Order Errors. My solution: the Scanned item must match the order item.

To ensure accuracy, the same barcode of the order item needs to match the scanned item.
If the item does not match, the App will not let the Employed Shopper proceed.
Kenny mentioned that some of the shoppers go by the picture rather than the item description. My design will incorporate a fail safe approach to ensure the shopper does not bag the wrong item

Learnings

Learned how to conduct interviews and user testing
Learned how to prototype a design
Learned how to find a targeted audience
Learned how to improve my design based on the user feedback/critique
Learned how to create sitemaps

AFFINITY DIAGRAM

SKETCHES

WIREFRAMES (MOBILE)

SITEMAP (EXTRA CREDIT)

Analysis: What Needs Work

After my interviewees reviewed my prototype, they confirmed that it was laid out logically and made sense. They liked the look and feel and overall flow of the app. The fail-safe approach was affirmed as a valid solution to ensure order accuracy. The interview process was fun, interactive and each participant spoke their thoughts and opinions aloud freely. Here's what needed work:

Users felt like the first screen to appear after signing in should be the Orders page so that the employee can see their list of orders/tasks.
The "Schedule" page was renamed to "Review Pickup Time" and the multiple time slot boxes were removed, as the other time slots were not needed since the customer has already chosen a time for pickup
Added "customer instructions" on the orders page so that the customer's preferences are not missed as the shopper goes about fulfilling the order.
Implemented a "skip item" feature for the shopper, if they can't find an item and want to pick out another item on the list in the meantime.

To interact with my prototype in Adobe XD, go here.