Redefining Online Grocery Shopping Experience.

As customers are looking for new and convenient ways to shop, Walmart remain committed to test innovative concepts by combining digital and physical assets by enabling customers to shop when and how they want.

Walmart tends to increase its sales, profitability and market share by opening an online store to serve major locations and test- run the online market. The online store will allow shoppers to order fresh organic groceries with ease from the comforts of their home or office and receive them the save day at an affordable cost.

Problem Statement

How can we promptly deliver organic groceries to shoppers at an affordable cost?

Phase 1: Research:

Business Domain Research

After some brainstorming, I came up with questions that the business will have to address while planning to design an online grocery store.

We researched to understand the business domain and consumer buying patterns for online grocery food. We concluded that it would be profitable to invest in an online grocery store because of growing demand and willingness to pay for the prompt delivery of organic food at the consumer doorsteps.

User Research

User research was conducted to determine the demographics of potential consumers — their needs, expectations, and motivations to shop online for organic groceries. We created a user research plan and conducted open-ended user interviews to understand user pain points and empathize with them. A comprehensive report made after analyzing user interviews.

Significant challenges faced by consumers are summarized below:

1.    Unable to find affordable and fresh organic vegetables at proximity to their homes.

2.    Too many aisles to look and search for the right products.

3.    Carrying heavy bags of groceries from the parking lot to their homes.

4.    Parking and traffic hassles at grocery stores during peak hours.

5.    Waste of time and energy waiting at the long checkout lines.

6.    Finding time to buy groceries

7.    The problem of fresh and right produce being picked for them while shopping online for groceries.

8.    The extra price they have to pay for delivery and tips when they buy online

9.    Accurate order fulfillment and proxy judgment in case of any discrepancies

Phase 2 :Define:

Empathy map, Persona & Goals

After ample brainstorming and analysis, user attitudes and behaviors was assessed which are explained below in the persona and empathy map. Empathy map helps with a deep understanding of end users and persona may help us to infer what a real person might need. We also analyzed business goals and user goals to come up with a profitable model for the users and business.

Phase 3: Ideate

What If?

1.    We believe that if we have filtered search feature
then users will take less time finding what they need.
We will know it’s true when we see users spend less time using the product.

2.    We believe that if we redesign the app to be more user-centered
then users will have better experience using our product.
We will know it’s true when we see the increase of frequency use returning users.

 Competitive Analysis:

Detailed competitive analysis among three competitors. i.e., Instacart, Fresh Direct, and Amazon Fresh was done. It helps to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the product and make more informed decisions about product strategy.

User Personas

Through the research phase, three key user groups emerged: the busy single parent, the activist with a food allergy, and the source-conscious recent college graduate. Each user group had specific beliefs, attitudes, and goals for grocery shopping, but they all shared some common characteristics, including the willingness to try new grocery options, the desire to save time and money, and the desire to eat healthy, nutritious foods.

 Phase 4:  Design:

Building low fidelity paper sketches.

After many iterations of paper sketches, a low fidelity wire frame was designed using Balsamiq tool. The number of low fidelity paper prototypes were created to quickly and easily test design solutions.

Wire frames

I reviewed my user flow and selected screens to sketch with pen and paper. I then used the sketches to guide the design of mid-fidelity, digital wire frames of mobile app screens. It helps in determining the user navigation, and help ease the user experience.

High-Fidelity Prototype was created using Figma

An interactive high fidelity prototype of “Walmart” was designed using Figma The prototype functionality is limited to a single task flow of navigating to the home page, finding a product, adding to cart, checkout to payment and confirmation.

Phase 5: Usability Testing

Once I had designed a set of prototypes, I was ready to conduct usability testing to evaluate how users would engage with the proposed product. It was important to test with mid-fidelity, greyscale wireframes to gather honest, critical feedback from potential customers, and to solidify the function of the product before integrating visual design.

Usability testing revealed that potential users would be interested in seeing the product focus more on customized shopping experiences for users who have specific dietary preferences. Valuable features to consider in the iteration included:

·         A clear option for quickly re-ordering from past purchases (with small modifications as needed.)

·         A subscription grocery service in which users select their dietary preferences and receive automatic deliveries of select goods that meet their preferences.

 From the usability test findings, the behavior patterns were observed to find out what works and what doesn’t work and thereby come up with a perfect product solution.