QuickPick
My Role.
Solo Student Project
Timeframe.
March - April 23
Category
App Design
Problem.
Grocery shoppers find it difficult to navigate and find products in-store.
While grocery shopping, I have often found it difficult to navigate the store, going back and forth between aisles, which costs time. I also found it hard to find specific products I am looking for. While shopping with others, I used WhatsApp or the Notes app to make shared shopping lists, making it difficult to keep track of in-store shopping.
This sparked the question - why is navigating a grocery store a tedious experience when it's such an essential part of our day-to-day lives?
Solution.
In-store navigation app that saves time and increases convenience.
An in-store navigation app that guides the users based on their shopping list and based on a specific item they are looking for.
A sharable shopping list that makes it easier to shop together with others.
Intuitive store map that allows shoppers to discover new and promotional products.
Let’s Deep Dive
Desk Research.
White paper research.
I started with white-paper research and came across eye-opening statistics from research in the Netherlands. In 2018, Albert Heijn (a grocery store in the Netherlands) conducted independent research with 1000 Dutch shoppers and found the following:
shoppers have difficulty finding products
14%
shoppers search for products themselves
75%
shoppers who don't find the product leave without a product
44%
I also found that in-store navigation technology is a promising yet underutilised solution to this problem. For example, when Albert Heijn ran a pilot with in-store navigation technology, 84% of users liked the solution because it increased convenience, speed, and independence in the grocery shopping experience.
Competitive Analysis.
Learning from others.
I analysed 3 popular apps/websites in the grocery shopping space. I found that almost none of them offered in-store navigation to help users navigate the store. Only one upcoming indoor mapping company (Hyper) is currently working on in-store grocery shopping navigation. This reiterated the findings from my research: in-store navigation is a promising but underutilised solution.
No separate app installation needed.
Store mode is automatically turned on when the user provides location access and is near the store.
Provides the user to shop by using their shopping list.
Provides the ability to checkout & pay with Kroger pay.
Provides access to coupons.
No AR experience.
No navigational assist.
Multiple clicks to access the feature.
Certain features, such as ‘Find an item’ & ‘Check the price’ could be merged.
Shows independent pricing of each product.
Shows the exact aisle number in which the product is kept.
Shows whether the product is in stock or not.
No separate app installation needed.
Points of interest such as customer service, pickup, pharmacy & restrooms are also shown.
No AR experiences.
No navigational assist.
The user still needs to find the aisle number in the physical store.
Multiple clicks to access the feature.
The app allows users to create shopping lists and receive personalised recommendations based on their purchase history.
Provides in-store AR navigation to locate a product accurately.
Provides in-store map navigation to locate a product accurately.
Provides in-store accessibility options.
Limited availability, as it is only available in select stores.
Requires a device capable of running the app and using augmented reality technology.
May not be user-friendly for customers who are not familiar with augmented reality technology.
Shows independent pricing of each product.
Shows products that can be purchased only in-store.
Has a feature called "Tap to Go," which allows users to scan products and pay for them using their mobile device without visiting a traditional checkout counter.
No AR experience.
No navigational assist.
In-store pickup may not always be available for all products.
Deltas
Pluses
MAIN INSIGHT
None of the grocery shopping apps offered in-store navigation.
User Interviews.
Validating the idea.
I saw in-store navigation as a potential solution, so I interviewed 3 people who likely have different shopping habits and requirements. For example, a new mother who lives with her family and students who live alone or with their partner.
Interview Questions.
Can you tell me about your experience shopping for groceries in the store? Describe your entire experience from preparing to go to the store to returning back.
How often do you make grocery shopping lists before going to the store?
What is most time-consuming while grocery shopping?
If you can't find a particular item in the store, how do you search for items in the store?
Have you come across any methods/tools that grocery stores offer you to find where things are kept?
What is the maximum amount of time you have spent searching for a particular item in the grocery store?
If you can not find an item in the grocery store, how often have you left the store without buying the product?
User Personas.
Planned and
impulsive shoppers.
MAIN INSIGHT
Finding things quickly was highly important to all shoppers. Shoppers spent only 3-4 minutes finding items & left the store without the item when they could not find it.
Analysis.
Mapping the insights
into themes.
Define.
Setting UX goals.
I decided on the UX goals for my design solution by combining the user and business goals:
Design.
Initial explorations.
Initially I looked into a potential AR solution for this problem because I saw that companies like Hyper AR are working on such a solution. After some thought I realised that an AR solution may not be the most intuitive, because it may not be comfortable experience for the users while shopping on a day-to-day basis. That is why I decided to develop a simple in-store navigation solution.
Sketches.
Starting with sketches.
I started exploring ideas with paper sketches. I explored ideas of how the user journey might look like and how various components might work together. For example, I thought about whether to design using tab layout or not.
User Journeys.
Mapping out the journey.
Based on the sketched ideas I started designing the mid fidelity prototype. I focused on mapping out the user journey throughout this prototype. For example, in most map applications users select a destination, then click on directions and then start navigation. I realised that while this two step process works in navigating the real world, while navigating a smaller space like a store users can directly start navigation as the map is less complex.
I also explored with some design elements such as anchored sheet (tray), list layouts and navigation layouts.
Based on the mid-fidelity prototype, I finalized the user journey.
High-Fidelity Prototypes.
3 major improvements.
I designed the final prototype through two iteration cycles of high-fidelity prototyping. First, I started designing based on the mid-fidelity prototype. I made three major improvements to my design based on user and peer feedback.
High-Fidelity Prototypes.
The final product.
After completing the list & the navigational flow, I designed additional features such as shared lists and map filters to finish the design.
Lessons Learned.
Reflections
This was my first ever solo UX project which was challenging and fun because I had not designed a map-navigation experience before.
Here are 3 things I learnt:
Early concepting: Through this project, I learnt the importance of defining the scope of the design concept. Clearly defining the concept based on research and early iterations helped me to design a focused solution.
Iterations are key: I learnt that iterations are key in understanding and improving the user journey. Early iterations helped me to go from the first idea of the user journey to the user journey of the final prototype. Later iterations based on feedback helped me to improve the intuitiveness of the experience.
Synthesizing findings: In this project I learnt to validate my ideas using different methods, which helped me set clear UX goals before starting to design.