Project 2 seeks to revamp the grocery shopping encounter by considering current shopper requirements and behaviors, with the goal ​of optimizing positive interactions within brick-and-mortar stores.

Ideation

We explored a couple of different ideas on how to achieve this goal:

• games for kids to enjoy while parents are shopping
  
• a scavenger hunt
  
• a membership that only provides financial incentive if the shopper comes to the store in person
  
• coupon deals that have a more significant impact on the price of products than the ones given at checkout
  

The ultimate concept we decided upon entails organizing a scavenger hunt for coupons strategically positioned on or between items ​throughout the store. These coupons would be updated frequently and showcased online, allowing customers to assess their value ​and select the days they wish to visit accordingly. The inclusion of a scavenger hunt element aims to enhance interactivity during the ​shopping experience, prompting customers to explore various sections of the store in search of coupons. Additionally, this concept ​could serve as an entertaining diversion for parents looking to occupy their children while shopping.

Parents with kids have trouble saving money at the grocery store while also keeping their kids entertained.

We used a journey map to figure out ​what the different parts of the ​shopping experience are and what ​customers we wanted to focus on for ​the project. This helps us establish a ​flow of ideas and get started on some ​visualization of what the project should ​look like.

Storyboarding and Sketching

Storyboarding helps us document and empathize with the user’s potential interaction with the product so we can keep ​them in mind for the whole design process.

Secondary Research

Through secondary research, we explored coupon usage trends, including preferences for percent-off, BOGO, and referral ​credit, as well as motivations for non-users to adopt coupons. We also examined potential benefits for children in a ​coupon-related scavenger hunt. Insights came from five articles. Capital One Shopping highlighted that coupons ​significantly impact consumer behavior, driving unplanned purchases, with percent-off being more popular than BOGO. ​Despite digital coupons' growth, paper coupons remain widespread. Swiftly emphasized the value of an engaging in-store ​shopping experience and LaChance's study showed how scavenger hunts improve children's memory and teamwork. ​Patterson's research noted parents' challenges shopping with kids. These insights led to our proposal of an in-store ​coupon scavenger hunt, blending paper coupons and scavenger elements to enhance coupon use and create a fun ​experience for families.

Primary Data

Interviews

• Conducted interviews to explore challenges faced by real shoppers during in-person shopping.
  
• Aimed to understand strategies for incentivizing families to opt for in-store shopping.
  
• Choose two group members to conduct interviews with friends as participants to ensure candid discussions.
  
• Participants were diverse in demographics to ensure a comprehensive understanding of shopper preferences and ​experiences.
  

Findings and Analysis

We made an affinity diagram to centralize all the main takeaways from our interviews and ​highlight the information that should be mentioned in the project.

Observations

• Conducted observations at Walmart to understand shopper behavior and preferences
  
• Three group members observed different individuals, including an average college student, a mother and her son, ​and a grandmother and her grandson
  
• Observations occurred on different days and times from March 20th to March 28th, 2024, capturing diverse ​perspectives
  
• Aimed to understand factors influencing decisions to shop in person versus online, providing valuable data for ​enhancing the in-store shopping experience and increasing foot traffic

Findings and Analysis

These are my observations put into a user journey map to properly document the shopper's thought process.

Scenarios

Our goal with prototyping is to create scenarios including a variety of users in order to learn who could benefit from the ​scavenger hunt. While taking special note of the population groups that would benefit the most versus the least so we ​can make it as fair for everyone as possible.

Here is an example of one of the scenarios that we came up with:

Timmy and Jimmy are brothers who live in a cheap college apartment together. They are busy and poor because they ​are college students. They want to get groceries for a good price, but neither one has the time to go to different stores ​looking for sales. While on the bus on his way to class, Timmy decides to see if Walmart shows what foods are on sale ​online. He sees on their website that there are in-store coupons available for his favorite vegetable, zucchini. He decides ​to stop by Walmart with his brother after class to get zucchini. While they look around the store for the coupons, Jimmy ​sees that the brand of carrots he likes is having a two-for-one sale. They check out with both zucchini and carrots, both ​of which they got at a discounted price. Timmy and Jimmy feel like they got a good deal. Walmart was also able to sell ​more carrots than they would have had Timmy and Jimmy shopped online and not seen that the carrots were having a ​deal. Everyone wins!

This is one possibility of what the page for the deal would ​look like on the Walmart app. From the Walmart app ​home screen, you would click on the “deals” tab, where ​you would then click on the “Scavenger Hunt” tab, and ​only then would the app display

Promotion for the scavenger online ​and in-store

Sketch of how coupons would be ​accessed