PROJECT 2: Embodied Shopping
The goal of the embodied shopping project is to create basic sketches and designs which show how the average shopping experience can be taken to the next level.
Project Overview
My team consisted of Purdue students majoring in Game development (Pedro and Thomas), Web Programming (Joseph), and UX design (Logan). The idea of this project was to find a way to improve the shopping experience. Nowadays there have been many technological improvements leading to easy online shopping. However, this misses out on the human interactions people get when shopping on their own. We wanted to solve this issue while still using the advantages of modern technology. Our plan is to create an app that would map out food items based off the user’s shopping list. In order to approach this, we did interviews to improve our initial idea and created a contextual inquiry. Using this we found context that cannot be found from basic interviews, allowing us to further our idea with a better perspective.
Initial Design Space
Purpose: To create an enjoyable and efficient shopping experience for families, and to lessen their frustrations and stress
Stakeholders
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Primary: Family/Group shoppers (shoppers who shop for more than just themselves)
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Secondary: Supermarkets (benefit from free data)
First Storyboard
Secondary Research
Purpose and Goals
Our main goal when we conducted our interviews was to get more insight into the world of students, shoppers with large lists, and store employees. We wanted to understand the needs and struggles of the user in order to develop our idea into something better.
Findings
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Employees at grocery stores get distracted from their task by customers asking for directions to find something.
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Frequent Shoppers often go shopping with at least a general idea of what they want or need.
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As long as the program doesn’t hinder the shopping experience frequent shoppers are open to app assistance.
Results
Our group ended up with interviews from shoppers, student shoppers, and a store employee. We learned from our interviews that shoppers who spend 20-30 minutes or more in a store would be more likely to use our app as well as users who would want a smoother shopping experience. We also learned that our app would benefit store employees since customers could refer to interactive store map whenever they have questions.
Final UI Design Concept
Initial UI Sketch
Contextual Inquiry
Context: Shopping groceries at Costco for family
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Navigating checkout and store aisles
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Looking for items that aren’t stocked every time
Partnership: Allow them to shop in the same way they always do
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Don’t prompt or force any suggestions on the shopper
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Allow them to complete their routine without any interruption
Interpretation: Shop along with them and ask why they do certain things
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Understand the shopper’s behaviors and actions
Focus: Ask general questions but ask about location
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If something surprising comes up, ask about it - refocus
and pursue the topic
Final storyboards
Design Rationale
Our final design would be an app that allows users to find where certain items in a store are located (ex. helping users find the location of peanut butter and not specifically the JIF brand) by giving users directions to the item based on their location in the store. The app’s map would show the layout of the store, the user’s location within the store, the location of the item(s) the user is trying to find, and the directions to find the item(s). Additionally, users will have the option to create a “cart” full of the items they would like to find within the store. Through interviews and peer evaluation, we moved away from our idea of an app that can be used to map a complete route through the store to find items of a specific brand and type. We learned that users would benefit more from an app that serves as a tool to find the specific location in a store where their items can be found.
Interview & Evaluation Protocol
Interview Protocol
Target Audience: Family/Group shoppers (who shop frequently for more than just themselves and spend a lengthy time in stores)
Purpose: These interviews are to discover how various types of shoppers spend their time at the grocery store and if an app like ours could improve their shopping experience and make navigation easier.
Consent
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I want to stress that all information in this interview will remain confidential and anonymous. Only the people working on this project will view this interview.
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Do I have your consent to record this interview? If you could just sign here to give your consent that would be great.
Questions
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How much time do you take when shopping?
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How often do you go out shopping?
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How many things do you usually buy when you shop?
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Do you ever have trouble finding a certain item in a grocery store?
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What store(s) do you shop at the most often?
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How do you figure out where things are?
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Do stores you go to move things around? If so, how often?
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How often do you look for an employee to ask a question about the store (location of item or other)
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Do you find a significant difference between different stores? (Aside from Costco)
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How often do you use apps to experience adjacent help?
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Could you see yourself using an app like this?
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How often are you unable to find a specific item in a grocery store?
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How do you feel while shopping at the store?
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How was your experience working in a grocery store?
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Did you ever get asked by customers where they could find items and how did it affect your work?
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Do you think an app that directs customers through the store to collect everything on their list would be helpful?
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Do you see any downsides to our idea?
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What improvements can you see being made to this idea?
Contributions
Team Contributions
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Team Documentation
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Team Presentation
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Secondary Research / Benchmarking
My Individual Contributions
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App concept sketch
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Conducted interview with grocery store employee
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Recorded the audio for project video
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My Interview
I interviewed my friend, Neil, who worked at a Stop & Shop grocery store for his first ever job. He worked in various positions around the store and would work shifts of five to six hours. When asked about his experience interacting with customers, he said that when he was stocking the shelves, he would regularly have to leave his position and show customers where items in the store were. Neil said that some stores might have issues with an app that guides shoppers through their list and he instead suggested that our app should function as just an interactive map to find the item that the shopper is looking for. He also suggested having item recommendations and on sale notifications for the app.
Team Video