The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed us to a new normal. We saw exponential growth in our grocery delivery services to the point where delivery time slots were constantly filled.
We launched Express Delivery to open new slots in which customers could pay extra to have their orders expedited.
I designed the associate experience of fulfilling these Express Orders which got rolled out to chain in May.
OUTCOME
In 14 days:
End of Q2:
THE PROBLEM
With COVID-19 causing a surge in grocery delivery, we faced full delivery slots, delayed orders, and our associates just couldn’t keep up with our customers’ needs.
💡 WALMART'S STRATEGY
BACKGROUND INFO
APPROACH
I started by looking at the current associate experience which had been live in a few stores.
Dissecting the qualitative data of associate complaints and using UX heruristics, I did an audit of the app experience.
It was clear that this experience had ux issues and wasn't designed to be scaled out to chain.
Summary of issues:
NEW OPERATIONAL PROCESS
After doing an audit of the existing experience, it was important to nail down the service task flow. I worked with my PM and Business Ops team to capture this.
This helped ensure that our team was on the same page and it guided my design thinking.
DESIGN EXPLORATIONS
This quickly became a priority project with a strict timeline of 2 weeks. So, our team moved fast on design explorations.
FIRST CONCEPTS AND TESTING
I worked with my UX Writer and created initial designs introducing tappable notification alerts that directed to an interstitial screen for the associate to interact with prior to starting their pick walk.
We tested this concept with 5 associates via Zoom. They each interacted with a web-based clickable prototype I made via InVision and we got some valuable insights.
Summary of learnings:
REFINEMENTS
At this point, the lead engineer came to us to let us know about the challenges with having the Express notification be tappable. It was a global component handled by a different team. Therefore, it would take longer to implement the functionality and be more costly.
We decided not to move forward with this function for the first release given the strict timeline. With this in mind, I explored some workarounds - like having a launch screen for the Express Order.
A big issue I saw from testing was that associates were confused on what their process should be. So, it was important to communicate out the steps and what was happening in the background of the app.
At last, the designs tested well with associates, everything was technically feasible from an engineering standpoint, and we were ready to launch.
FINAL
Customers pay upwards of $10 to have their grocery order delivered in less than 2 hours.
DESIGN SPECS
Finally, as a way to help my engineers and stakeholders understand key interactions, I created this light design doc.
OUTCOME
In 14 days:
End of Q2:
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Our team had to adapt to the new normal with remote working. Brainstorming and designing with my team virtually was difficult for me to get used to at first.
I learned:
Documentation is key
With so many distractions at home, it can be easy to forget things like meetings agendas, project statuses, new requirements, etc. Using a digital tool like Confluence really helps keep teams on track.
Fight for good UX
I was faced with many pushbacks from developers, so I had to negotiate with the team between what I believed to be the best experience for our associates and tech feasibility.
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