Mobile & Self Checkout POS System

Prepared for:

The Challenge

As a leading regional supermarket chain on the East coast, Wegmans is committed to making their customers shopping experience a genuine pleasure.

To that end Wegmans approached the CEI UX team to rethink the user experience of their current self-checkout Kiosks, and their Mobile checkout app “Scan”.

Utilizing a human centered approach to research and design, our team created a significant improvement in usability.

The Results

As a result of understanding the user and business, our team was able to provide a successful self-checkout experience that led to

35%

Reduced Reduced customer checkout time checkout time

3%

Yearly revenue increase with shorter wait times

42%

Reduced workforce resources cost for customer service/support during the self-checkout process

The Team

Research Lead

UX Designer

Solution Architect

Project Manager

Product Manager/Owner

Business Analyst

Business Stakeholders

Toshiba Vendor Support

Deliverables

Increased Value and Engagement

Kiosk Friendly Design Solutions

Mobile Friendly Design Solutions

The Process

Our Process

Discovery & Observation

Understand the Business

We hold in-person kickoff meetings to learn the history of the product, and what they know about the problem space and their customer base.

Understand the User

In order to gain insight into the customers needs, we visit business locations and ask users about their experiences.

Understand the Product Landscape

To better understand the existing product we document the information architecture, and evaluate the design.

07

Industry Trends

Transition to computer-vision technologies from weight-based item detection eliminated the need for customers to lookup non-UPC items or to scan items themselves.

Advancements in barcode technologies provided more flexibility in placement of barcodes. This allowed for more freedom in packaging design, as well as a faster, more accurate scanning process for the customer.

Heuristic Analysis

In order to evaluate the current product's design, we conducted a heuristics analysis that provided the opportunity to see where the product was or was not adhering to best UX practices.

09

Contextual/Competitive Analysis

Several retailers were surveyed in addition to Wegmans. We investigated traditional grocery stores, Supercenters and non-grocery retailers for a holistic view of the self-checkout experiences with which the application could be compared.

Target

Pros:
Extremely easy to use and visually appealing due to the sizing, layout, and styling of the UI elements (i.e. simplified screens, minimal text with simple icons.)

The interface only asks customers what they need and displays only that. No unnecessary options or visual clutter.

The system gives good feedback while the customer moves through the work flow and the results of each action are easy to see.

The workstation set-up is superior to others surveyed: The kiosk flows right to the POS terminal, then bagging area, funneling the customer through the checkout directly to the exits for an efficient process.

A scanning wand, making it easier to scan large items, or items that are harder to scan.

Cons:
When buying items on a specific promotion that gives the customer a gift card. The interface displays a screen that the customer cannot exit until they have scanned a gift card. While these cards are positioned in the workstation area, the next steps are not clear to the customer, especially if they were not aware of the promotion.

The back-end interface is not as well designed as the front-end that the customers see. When an attendant is required for the completion of a task, the customer must wait while the employee works their way through a less-than-intuitive set of screens.
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Kroger

Pros:
Easy to use interface. The UI elements and layout are very clean. The large, finger-friendly buttons are visually obvious and the general steps of the process are intuitive.

Each item shows the discount, if applicable, so the customer knows if the items they are buying are on sale as well as how much they are saving in total.

There is an easy way to look up items by name, picture, or by the item code.

Cons:
Once a customer either signals a need for help or performs an action that requires help, a result that may be unknown to the customer, there is no option to cancel the request. They must wait for the attendant, wasting both the time of the customer and the attendant.

When the customer presses the screen to void items they are able to select any item or discount, which is a positive feature; however, there is no error prevention. They are not warned or asked to confirm before removing an item, which becomes a more significant problem when discounts are applied to the removed items.

There is no wand to help scan bigger items, or items that are difficult to scan due to shape or packaging.

After pressing “Pay Now” the customer is prompted to insert their card into the POS terminal. The POS UI displays “Processing please wait”, but if the customer did not select “Card” as the payment type on the Kiosk screen there are no instructions to indicate the next steps.

Analyze & Define

Refine the Findings

Utilizing our research, we refine and solidify the project’s focus to better align with business goals and user needs.

Synthesize the Findings

Examining our findings with stakeholders provide an opportunity to redetermine business motivation vs. user goals.

Prioritize the Findings

Prioritizing features based on impact vs. cost/time further aligns the project and business teams for the project’s success.

Build & Test

Conceptualize the Design

We create rudimentary designs from the workflows and user journeys in order to understand what actions will be available on a screen-by-screen level.

Evaluate the Design

By utilizing wireframes within clickable prototypes, we begin to validate and refine what will become the final product.

Formalize the Design

Adding a final layer of polish by selecting the proper colors and shapes within the interface further enables the users to easily navigate the product to achieve their goals.

Mobile & Self Checkout POS System

The Challenge

As a leading regional supermarket chain on the East coast, Wegmans is committed to making their customers shopping experience a genuine pleasure.

The Results

As a result of understanding the user and business, our team was able to provide a successful self-checkout experience that led to

The Team

Deliverables

The Process

Our Process

Discovery & Observation

Understand the Business

We hold in-person kickoff meetings to learn the history of the product, and what they know about the problem space and their customer base.

Stakeholder Mapping

Stakeholder Interviews

Business Goal Identification

Understand the User

In order to gain insight into the customers needs, we visit business locations and ask users about their experiences.

Use Case Analysis

User Interviews & Surveys

User Personas

User Journeys

User Insights & Feedback

Understand the Product Landscape

To better understand the existing product we document the information architecture, and evaluate the design.

Industry Trends

Heuristic Analysis

Contextual/Competitive Analysis

Target

Kroger

Product Features Identification

Analyze & Define

Refine the Findings

Utilizing our research, we refine and solidify the project’s focus to better align with business goals and user needs.

OKR/KPI’s Review & Refinement

Workflow Analysis

Refining Initial Insights

Synthesize the Findings

Examining our findings with stakeholders provide an opportunity to redetermine business motivation vs. user goals.

Affinity Mapping & Cause/Needs Analysis

Defining What & Why to Determine How

Prioritize the Findings

Prioritizing features based on impact vs. cost/time further aligns the project and business teams for the project’s success.

Cost vs. Impact Analysis

Key Features to Design

Build & Test

Conceptualize the Design

We create rudimentary designs from the workflows and user journeys in order to understand what actions will be available on a screen-by-screen level.

Storyboarding

Wireframes

Conceiving the Interface

Evaluate the Design

By utilizing wireframes within clickable prototypes, we begin to validate and refine what will become the final product.

Prototyping & User Testing

Fail Fast to Gain Success

Formalize the Design

Adding a final layer of polish by selecting the proper colors and shapes within the interface further enables the users to easily navigate the product to achieve their goals.

UI Design

Wayfinding

Balancing Usability with Beauty

Self Checkout UI

Mobile Scanning UI

Results