Cooking lover needs – UX Supermarket

Introduction

Even the large organizational distributions have understood the importance of innovation to increase profits and to satisfy their customers more and more. We are in the millennium where the experiences we live are worth much more than just a product.
In a context where technological opportunities multiply and people’s expectations change accordingly, the challenge has been to anticipate trends and propose new and increasingly effective ways of relating and involving.

Cooking lovers

The challenge was to give a role to the mobile app and the kiosk, which was somehow different from that of the website, not only in terms of use, but also in terms of perception by those who use it.
The first step was to think about the customization of each user to create a digital recipe book depending on the source of research or inspiration and also from the grandma’s old recipes.

Let’s start

It is not possible to design without knowing, so the first phase of the project focused on collecting information to understand what the relationship between consumers and the supermarket was like.
As a first step, a research plan was designed by conducting surveys directly at the supermarket and online questionnaires. The interviews showed that many people, especially millenials, would be interested in sharing dishes they prepared both on social networks and in a new community of people who attend the supermarket.

Persona

Monica Bianchi is 34 years old and works in a travel agency.
She is always looking for new ingredients because she likes to experiment and invite her friends home to try her dishes.

“I like to experiment and invite my friends to my house to try my dishes.
I’m always looking for new ingredients.

Monica

A first release and a roadmap to evolve

The experience is not limited to the creation of the dish, but goes from the choice of products to buy, the creation of the list, until the share of the recipes.

A simple user interface has been chosen for the app, similar to the social networks with which everyone is familiar, to begin immediately to involve people in an intuitive way. The products interfaces are based on a ‘card’ content flow: in this way it is possible to create an interface that can also be adapted to different future needs and, at the same time, offer a rich and fresh exploration experience from the very first release.
Through the app, the cooking lover can load a recipe in different ways and automatically receive the list of products needed to buy for the preparation of the dish.

In addition, a list of recipes has been created where the quantity of ingredients can be calculated quickly and easily according to the number of people.

Interaction with the Kiosk

Inside the supermarket each customer can interact with the kiosks using their loyalty card or the barcode inside the app.
From the research made at the beginning of the process, the kiosk was never used (few functions, e.g. check the points collected).

In order to enhance the value of the kiosks inside the supermarket, a cooking program has been created where it is only possible to participate thanks to the interaction with the kiosk. After sharing the recipe and the various photos each chef can earn loyalty points to use for discounts and/or gift prizes. In addition, a list of recipes will be created that will always be available to users of the supermarket to be inspired in the creation of new dishes.

In addition, through the kiosk was created the option to print their shopping list created on the app with the advantage of having a map (aisle and shelf) to find products quickly without getting lost in the large supermarket.

Evolve, grow and enhance

The application has been designed to change over time, respond to the need of the supermarket with new business and to know its customers and, at the same time, offer them an excellent UX and become the first step of a digital ecosystem that puts the customer at the center.

We chose an agile and incremental evolutionary approach to allow the tool to evolve rapidly including new features, such as the visualization/sponsorship of products (eg. supermarket brand) and a simple management to assess food intolerances related to a particular ingredient/product.

The opportunity to create a valuable and lasting relationship with consumers allows large retailers to create an ecosystem where the relationship is not only that of “consumer/supermarket” but a relationship of trust and belonging.