Central Market App

Background

This is a project that conducting usability testing towards current Central Market App with competitors ( WholeFoods, HEB, Instacart )

Introduction

Central Market is an American gourmet grocery store chain owned by H-E-B Grocery Company. During pandemic period, Central Market was eager to compete other grocery stores in online order delivery market, so they began to figure out and solve the pinpoints in application.

4 members' team project

My Role

UX Researcher

4 months

Duration

Project type

Findings and Recommendations

88.89% of participants (8 / 9) prefer using searching function rather than only browsing the category.

44.45% of participants (4 / 9) said : after cancelling the order, they expected to see the order in the [Past Orders].

33.33% of participants (3 / 9) said it would be better to notify customers via phone after they place/cancel the order.

22.22% of participants (2 / 9) mentioned the screen was too sensitive to scroll down the page.

0% of participants (0 / 9) used filter function on both grocery apps.

Process

Simplify the navigation steps
Add a delivery status tracker

Navigation

Make the sliding sub-category bar more prominent.
Similar items should be placed in an order.
Create subcategories for cuts of meat. (e.g. Chicken- drumstick or thigh or whole)
Divide Fresh Produce into two groups. (Fruit and Vegetable)

Interface

Redesign Home page & For You page(They are the same now).
Eliminate inconsistencies between photo and description.
Add a zoom function for the pictures of items in order to directly read the label on the image.

Ease of Use

Remove substitutions as the default.
Adjust the sensitivity of the screen.
Show notifications after users place/cancel the order.

Define Top Task

Sign/Login
Find Items
Schedule Delivery
Place the Order in Cart
Pay and After-Sale Options

Heuristic Evaluation

We used Nielsen Norman Group’s 10 Usability Heuristics for User Interface Design to evaluate Central Market’s App.

Negative Findings

Visibility of system status
Match between system and the real world
User control and freedom
Error prevention
Flexibility and efficiency of use
Aesthetic and minimalist design
Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors

Positive Findings

Consistency and standards
Recognition rather than recall
Help and documentation

Recommendations

Both pickup and delivery options should be available to guests before signing up.
Users need more control and flexibility in content editing (update payment info, uncheck substitutes in cart)
More useful filter options needed on product page ( alphabetical, price, on-sale product orders )
A better indication is needed to show users which specific part goes wrong and how to solve it ( cancellation )
Re-organize interface panel to make information clearer ( overlap contents through home page and others )
Pictures for items should be unique with unique descriptions.

Competitive Analysis

Taking top tasks as analysis lists, we compared Central Market App with similar type of grocery stores app, including WholeFoods, H-E-B, Instacart, Weee!, Shipt, QFC.

Task 1

Can users browse the APP without login?
Are there more than 1 retailers on the APP?
How many ways can users sign up/login?

Task 2

Find Items

The features of Searching Functions?
Are there any Coupons
Does the App include wishlist function?

Task 3

Schedule delivery

Are there many delivery date/time options for user to choose?
What’s the minimum prepare time for the competitors?
How much are the delivery fee & delivery tips & shopper fee?

Task 4

Place the Order in cart

Can user Modify the items in the cart?
Can user leave instructions/notes for the order?
Is there any substitute options/ group order function?

Task 5

Pay and after-sale options

How many payment options?
Can user modify/cancel the order after placing the order?

Summary

Easy Access to Browsing the App (e.g.Easy Signup / No Signup )
User Guide / Instructions
Well-organized Item Sequences & Filter
Notification of Discount & Savings at Checkout Page
Flexible Changes on Delivery Method & Time at Checkout Page
One Click to Empty Items & Cancel Substitutions
Cash back & Rewards & Automatically Generated Membership Card

Outline of Script

Moderators gave interviewers shopping scenario first, and then guided testers through 8 tasks, instructing them to “think aloud” (i.e., narrate their thoughts and actions) as they worked through the tasks.

Methodology

Survey Candidates

Tech Check

Zoom & phone

Dry Run & User Testing

Participant Observations

Through Zoom

Interview

Participants

9 individuals
Various ages, HHI, and device preferences
Unbiased towards either company
Some experience using grocery delivery Apps
Unfamiliar with Central Market or Amazon Whole Food APP

Analysis Overview

Success Rate
Ease of Use
Confidence Rating
SUS score
Time on Task

Success Rate is consistent with % Said Easy

We can see some insights from the data on Task M, B, G, P . There are gaps between the data from CM and WF testing result.

Most of participants successfully placed the order and cancelled the order, however, the easy rates on WF are not so high. We can also figure out some reasons from the interview.