FairPrice . New journey led to 10x growth.

Background & my role

As the Senior Principal Product Designer at NTUC FairPrice, Singapore's leading supermarket, I was responsible for leading the digital transformation, focusing on enhancing the in-store shopping experience for our customers.

Business problem

The business scope and objectives are changing: current Scan & Go product was not effective in encouraging customers to spend more.

One day the Head of O2O business shared a new business scope and objective to us:

1. To increase the Average Order Value (AOV) for all FairPrice in-store customers.

2. Our target extends from 20 stores with Scan & Go to all the FairPrice stores

After speaking with many of our key stakeholders, we all agreed that the current Scan & Go product was not effective in encouraging customers to spend more, so we decided to develop a new customer journey focused on the "Before Shopping" and "During Shopping" stages.

About the User

The user base was widen with the goal of raising the Average Order Value.

Since we expanded our focus to include all in-store shoppers, not just those using Scan & Go, our user profiles have broadened accordingly.

Customer problem

Identifying and addressing customer challenges: Sharing insights from journey mapping and previous research

I further proposed and shared my UX strategy with the Product Manager and Stakeholders, a few steps I took:

1. Looked at previous user research with my observations to understand our in-store shoppers’ shopping behavior.

2. Shared the journey mapping with stakeholders for customer problem discovery.

However, as was often the case, stakeholders had their preferences and viewpoints. Among these, some stakeholders advocated for the introduction of way-finding in the store. They believed it would not only support the staff on the floor but also enhance the attractiveness of the technology itself.

Qualitative research was not enough

Within my UX strategy, I had planned a customer survey to identify the most pressing issues for our users. This would offer stakeholders a clearer perspective on the primary customer challenges that needed addressing.

The survey findings indicated that users:

• Flyer Recall Trouble: 40% of users found it troublesome to remember purchases from flyers.

• Out-of-Stock Frustration: 38% of users faced unexpected stock shortages, forcing them to change recipes at the last moment.

• In-Store Navigation Ease: Only a small number of users (5%) struggled with locating items in-store.

This information was crucial in guiding our focus on enhancing the pre-shopping preparation rather than just improving way-finding in the store.

Regarding on Flyer Recall Trouble, it stood out as a critical problem to tackle to elevate customer spend, e.g. by making it easier for customers to spot and remember deals, there was a greater chance they'd add more to their shopping carts.

Goals

️️To develop an ideal customer journey:
1. making it simpler to discover and remember what to buy
2. allowing customers to plan better on what to buy before the trip

I facilitated the team through in-depth discussions to collaboratively design an ideal customer journey based on identified customer problems. Throughout this process, I also actively communicated with stakeholders, gathered their feedback as well as challenge their hypothesis, and participated in discussions to discover the optimal path for customer experience.

Key hypothesis

Journey

Improve in-store product discovery: Replace flyer-like visuals with clear presentations and utilize an in-app shopping list for easy bookmarking, ensuring users are updated with deals and items availability.

The in-app shopping list serves not only for bookmarking deals and tracking item availability, but is also designed for future by providing aisle information to guide users directly to products when they are in the store.

Concept / Usability Testing

I built the prototype around a set of hypotheses. While a researcher conducted the usability testing, I observed and iterated the design during the testing with 12 participants.

The journey shaped users’ mental models, which in turn guided the design of our interface.

While I specifically created an ‘Add an item’ call-to-action button on the shopping list screen, it did not go well.

• While customers were asked to add items to their shopping list, most of them went back to the home screen and started searching

• Customers held a firm belief in starting their item searches from the home screen, reflecting a specific expectation of how they navigate and discover items.

• Hence the ‘Add an item’ button became useless to most of them

Refine the MVP through discussions with the Product Manager and customer insights.

We discussed and presented the refined Minimum Viable Product (MVP) to the product manager and stakeholders. This version was based on the insights gained from the concept and usability testing, focusing on the most achievable and impactful features.

Final Design

Result

The results of our customer journey launch were highly successful, with a 1000% increase in digital in-store traffic, a 10% engagement rate for the new digital shopping list, and an 8% increase in Average Order Value. We shared our achievements with both senior management and the wider company in two presentations.

~1000%

increased traffic for digital in-store traffic (page impression)

~10%

engagement / traffic for the new shopping list

~9%

Increased in AOV (For those using the in-app shopping list)

Other impacts

Users adapted to a new in-store shopping behaviour

“After checking the app and seeing a $6 discount on frozen salmon, I immediately visited the store and ended up purchasing 6 of them.” - customer

The new journey set a foundation for a scalable product in future

• 3rd party advertisement

• Discover in-store voucher

• In-store gamification

• Click & Collect

Summary & learning

Customers play a crucial role in guiding us through significant ambiguity, from identifying the problem to crafting solutions.

1. Customers were the north stars, again: We learned that customers' expectations and perceptions of value can drive everything and can often differ from our hypotheses. New expectations also arose during the project, such as a desire for a click-and-collect service.

2. Navigate uncertainty with an open mind: To handle huge ambiguity, we need to ask questions to stakeholders from customers’ point of view and be open-minded about hypotheses, then validate the needs of customers.

New customer behaviors opened up fresh opportunities for advertising exposure.

The 10x increase in digital in-store traffic allowed businesses to view it as an additional channel for third-party advertising.

What could have done better?

Setting a better UX measurement earlier could resulted in a more joyful celebration.

1. Sustaining a long-term UX strategy requires ongoing measurement: The survey should not be a one-off research but more a regular one, then we could regularly measure the satisfaction and how significantly we solved the problems

2. Defining UX metrics early and separately from product metrics is essential: Had we established key UX metrics like customer satisfaction at the project's start, we would have had even more reason to celebrate its success.