Problem.

The biggest pain point the app could solve is the time wasted while grocery shopping. If the app could help the user find the items they need quickly for example telling them where the item is in the store. The app could also notify the user if items are in stock or not so they don’t waste time walking around the store trying to find it.

Overview.

The app will try to solve the time waste problem by providing users with information on where the items they want are and allow them to pay for these items without having to go to the checkout.

The user will be able to input what items they want to buy. The app will show them which nearby stores have the times and for what price. The app will also show the user the location of items in the store. 

The user can then scan the item and pay for the item in real-time without going to the checkout.

Audience.

My target audience is young professionals aged 25-35 who live in cities. I believe this group will benefit from a grocery app that fits with their busy lives to make purchasing groceries easy, efficient and quick.

User Research.

The goals of my research is to get raw and unbiased data about grocery shopping and online shopping experiences from people we interview from our target audience.

I interviewed 6 people from the target audience and asked some of the following questions:

1. How often do you purchase groceries in a typical week?

2. How do you determine what you need to buy?

3. How do you feel when you are going to the grocery store?

4. What do you find frustrating when you are shopping?

5. How do you pick the grocery store you want to shop at?

6. Do you shop online and how often?

7. Have you used an app to shop online?

8. Have you purchased food online?

The participants go to the grocery store 1-2 times a week. They purchase food based on the meals they are preparing for the week or staples they buy every week. The participants have mixed feelings about grocery shopping but they tend to lean towards slightly negative. Participants picked stores based on price, selection and proximity to where they live. Participants found not being able to find items and lack of selection the most frustrating. Participants tend to buy vegetables first. Most participants shop online and have bought food online.

Solution.

I learned that ideas can evolve and change between the sketching, wire-framing and prototyping phase. 

I changed some elements of the design and functionality after realizing certain elements I was happy with originally did not work as well the more I was developing wireframe. 

This became more apparent as I started to put wireframes of screens together in the order a user would be going through the prototype. 

I added additional screens for adding an item to a list and scanning an item in a store to give the user a real sense of how those processes would work. 

I came to this realization after I had the original 5 wireframes together and realized key steps where missing that in real life would make the app very confusing to use. 

Another element I updated near the end of the project was to place a shopping cart icon on the top right of the app. 

Originally I had an inbox icon for notifications. I realized while I had processes in place for the key functionality of the app, I then realized “how are they actually going to pay for items?”. 

Also, some users may not want to buy all the items from a list so allowing them to click on the cart and pay for the items they have in their basket gives users more flexibility.

Learnings.

The participants found some elements of the prototype worked well. Adding items to a list, finding stores, scanning items and paying for their items functioned well. 

Participants also got confused and frustrated by the lack of functionality on the 4 bottom menu buttons. These should be interactive for any future prototypes.

The choke point for participants was the store map page. They found it was not clear what to do on this page as it had no calls to action or directions. This section needs to be improved by adding clear calls to actions or should be reevaluated on how it functions. 

An area to improve would be to include a way for the user to check their list regularly so they can see if items were added and crossed off when scanned. Also, better notifications when items are added too and crossed off lists successfully.