A UX practicum: Building a better grocery shopping experience with an innovative E-commerce concept.
By: Thomas Ehigiamusoe
Tags: Product, Design, UX, Tech, UI

Grocery shopping is something every individual takes part in on a daily/weekly basis. Every home needs groceries to function properly because it takes up a major percentage of household food. Due to the high demand of groceries, shopping for these items can be so stressful, time-consuming and clichéd.

In recent times, technology has really made so many activities stress-free and convenient, so i saw the need to get rid of the challenges that comes with shopping for groceries by coming up with a product — an app called “Shopex”. This app is designed to intertwine technical features and grocery shopping knowledge to produce a really cool user experience (UX).

The Design Process

Following the design process, i started with stakeholders interview and ended with validation and usability evaluation.

Research

I did quite a number of interviews with colleagues and spot-on shoppers. I also carried out an in-depth research and survey on the web to see how feasible and useable this product can be. I found out that:

●Most shoppers rather have thier groceries delivered to them because these items are bought on a daily/weekly basis. It saves time that way.

●Pricing of grocery items is a crucial factor when it comes to choosing which store to buy from.

●Most times grocery items are bought when the user is on his/her way home after a stressful day at work. they really need some convenience.

I validated the idea that it saves the user’s time. the user doesn’t have to be physically present at a supermarket, he/she can easily order the desired item on his/her phone. The app goes further than that, its uses GPS technology to show supermarkets and retail stores around the user and compare their prices. Therefore, enabling the user to make a smart and economical purchase.

It also promotes convenience. the user can subscribe to a feature where the purchased items can be delivered to his/her doorstep. furthermore, it studies the users purchases within a time frame and uses Machine Learning to make smart recommendations. For example, in a month, a user bought X from shop Y frequently. In the following month the app could suggest if you want X from shop Y to be delivered to you monthly and the user can agree to this.

Persona

I created a persona of a user who closes really late from work and doesnt have time for grocery shopping due to tiredness. I’ll call him “Mr. George” but of course there are many other scenarios other than his.

Designing a Mobile App Wireframe

Now my designs are not perfect but it portrays the idea. the user opens the app, signs up or logs in and proceed to the next page where he/she inputs the item he/she wants to buy. then the app goes to the next page where it displays Stores around the user having the selected item with the help of GPS technology. it shows various stores and thier prices, this way the user is able to compare prices and go for the best price. after that, he proceeds to the payment page which supports various forms of payment.

then proceeds to the tracking page which provides an estimated time of delivery. and finally the feedback page.

Other features:

The app uses Machine Learning to make smart recommendations using the history of your purchase. and if the user doesn’t want to pay extra and subscribe to the “doorstep delivery” he has a “pick up” option, where he goes to the retail store to pick up the items himself.

Validation

After prototyping, i carried out a validation test with few users and figured out that:

●Using the app to shop saves the users time astronomically.

●It makes shopping convenient.

●The user doesn’t miss out any item on his or her shopping list.

Generally, people enjoyed the result and loved the app. it benefited retail store owners too beacause it reduced the number of persons walking into thier shop. social distancing is very important due to COVID-19.