International Marketplace
An online platform catering to a local ethnic marketplace, offering convenience and comfort.
YEAR
2022
PROTOTYPE
SERVICE
Case Study
CATEGORY
UX & UI
ROLE & DURATION
I was the main researcher and designer on this project in Q3 to Q4 of 2022 ideating concepts, presenting weekly to leadership and final handoff. I worked with 2 Senior Product designers and Leaders.
OVERVIEW
International Marketplace is a grocery delivery and pick-up service that allows customers to order groceries and scour aisles of more than 50 countries in one place. This platform will provide more user-centric approach to the app, adding features and flows that make it delightful for people to use.
THE PROBLEM
While modern technology has ushered in multi-functional platforms for convenient shopping, the presence of scattered and competitive ethnic grocery stores presents a contrasting scenario. This forces consumers to travel and visit multiple stores to fulfill their grocery needs, consuming considerable time, energy, and potentially increasing expenses, which can be frustrating for consumers.
OBJECTIVES
To provide convenience among consumers by being able to find all their ethnic needs in one place
To replicate the consumer’s in person shopping experience using a customer-centric mobile or online application for an ethnic supermarket, the International Marketplace
To introduce and promote International Marketplace as the primary place or supermarket to get all ethnic needs.
To understand the process and frustrations of consumers making several inconvenient trips to different ethnic supermarket.
SOLUTION
A digital solution for an existing marketplace that caters a vast and variety of ethnic products in one platform.
This will allow consumers to shop in over 50+ countries quick and easy, place orders ahead of time to manage time efficiently, and access to In-Store Express Check-Out, Pick-Up and Delivery services.
DESIGN PROCESS
I was responsible for identifying, planning, researching, and designing a digital mobile interaction that addresses the problem, using the tools and techniques of User experience design.
01 DISCOVER
ETHNIC SUPERMARKETS IN THE US INDUSTRY ANALYSIS
Foreign products boosts demand because of the growing population of immigrants. Consumers are more likely to purchase products and ingredients they are familiar with, resulting in more ethnic stores to meet the growing demand.
Supermarkets in major cities have access to more buyers. This is particularly true for ethnic markets, as large cities tend to have the largest immigrant populations.
Ingredients and other foods generate the most revenue. Consumers are constantly replenishing their pantries with ingredients for everyday meals, making other foods a strong segment for food stores.
Competition within the industry is limited, as product offering varies greatly based on the demographic the store serves. Hispanic-focused markets will not face significant competition from Asian markets and vice-versa.
Source: IBIS World
METHOD
This research adopted a quantitative research design to answer the objectives - how to provide convenience among consumers of all backgrounds by finding all their ethnic needs in one place.
Participants needed to meet the following criteria prior to the interviews:
Preferably consumers of all backgrounds that are primarily responsible for grocery shopping.
Must shop or have an experience in shopping at ethnic supermarkets or grocery stores.
Must utilize or have ethnic necessities such as special ethnic ingredients, food, items or products.
KEY THEMES & INSIGHTS
Using the Affinity Mapping process I discovered the following key themes:
Familiarity. Most participants are only familiar with stores based on ethnic preference and/or retailers near their neighborhood or area.
Convenience. Participants values how much time and effort is involved in shopping for their grocery items.
Technicality. Considering all age bracket, not all participants are technical thus, they find it hard to utilize mobile apps and place orders through online platforms.
SELECTED THEME
Out of these key themes, I chose to focus on Convenience with the assumption that it is the most important factor to provide a hassle-free experience among consumers.
The reason behind this decision, was because participants value their time and effort when it comes to shopping for groceries rather than being familiar with stores / retailers nearby their area nor being an expert in online shopping.
DESIGN CHALLENGE
How might we make it convenient for diverse consumers of Las Vegas to find food or items based on ethnic needs without having to make several trips?
02 DEFINE
USER PERSONA
EMPATHY MAPPING
USER MAIN TASK FLOW
03 DEVELOP
PAPER SKETCHES
Below are sets of paper sketches with labels and annotations to capture the chosen task I am designing.
PAPER TO DIGITAL
Using my UI inspiration and referencing to my sketches, I was able to turn them into an initial set of grayscale digital wireframes showing the end-to-end interaction of the main task.
TESTING + IMPROVEMENTS
Based on various feedback from 10 other peers + mentor feedback, I continually iterated my design over the span of 4 weeks - with 3 major improvements:
FINAL ITERATIONS
FINAL SCREENS
04 DISCOVER
FINAL PROTOTYPE
After solidifying the final task flow followed the tasks of injecting colours and graphical components. Below shows the final prototype.
VISUAL BRANDING
Part of the development of my digital product will be to develop a brand and establish a feeling that the app is going to represent.
See presentation
PRODUCT MARKETING SITE
A platform that displays the overall content marketing flow.
CONCLUSIONS + REFLECTIONS
The project was in the works for 16 weeks and I’m immensely grateful to have been through an entire UX process so I can see what it’s actually like. On that note, a few things I’ve learned:
Think Outside the Box. The whole process taught me how to shift my perspective and think outside the box. I conceptualized differently, approached the problem space in an innovative way and more importantly understood my position on the given situation.
Compromising and seeing possible solutions in each direction. In the beginning stages, I’ve explored so many different options to try finding the right solution for my users. I’ve ended up exploring solutions such as creating a different platform that caters vast and several ethnic stores - inspired by Instacart to make sure every aspect of the app was designed with intention. I hope to have a better sense of communicating my design decisions to myself, my mentor, and future recruiters next time!
Be insight- not process-driven. Despite weeks of research + development, the initial version of this case study was full of unnecessary and lengthy texts instead of tying everything and making it fit into the bigger picture. Hence based on my mentors feedback, I was able to cut down the copy by 60% and focused on the major points in my project. Moving forward, I believe focusing more on the insights will improve my storytelling abilities to others.
Turn my mistakes into learnings. From noticing mistakes in my UI to uncovering more foundational UX problems in my app, I’m thankful to have constantly asked for feedback from my peers and my mentors. In the end, I pushed to have the app as best I could, and did not let my own thinking stop me from questioning if my own decisions were truly best for the user.
For more work inquiries or if you want to grab a coffee with me, email me at sarrahditan@gmail.com ☕️
Thank you for reading!
