Grocery Prime is a mobile concept designed to simplify everyday grocery shopping through subscription-based purchases and personalized recommendations.
The goal of the project was to reduce friction in recurring shopping behaviors while creating a more efficient and convenient user experience.
Role: UX designer
Course: Treehouse
Problem
Grocery shopping is a repetitive task, yet many digital solutions fail to support habitual behavior effectively.
Users often spend unnecessary time searching for the same products, rebuilding shopping carts, and managing recurring needs manually.
Additionally, subscription options are often unclear or difficult to manage, creating hesitation rather than convenience.
Audience
Grocery Prime’s target audience is persons who:
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Shops for groceries
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Shops for grocery store
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is over 18
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lives in Sweden
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Uses a smartphone
Solution
Find user pain point
I conducted semi-structured interviews to identify potential pain points in customers’ grocery shopping experiences. This method was chosen to allow for deeper insights and more flexible follow-up questions.
The first step was to recruit participants who matched the target criteria. To support this, I created a screening survey to identify suitable candidates.
To reach the right audience, I researched relevant keywords related to grocery shopping (e.g., “grocery stores” and “grocery stores near me”) and translated them into Swedish. These keywords were then used to identify and recruit participants through relevant Facebook groups.
Grocery Prime
I interviewed five people and to collect the data I used audio recording and later transcribed the data.
To visualize my findings, I used an Affinity Diagram (See below).
User tests on wireframes
After conducting the semi-structured interviews, I was provided with a set of wireframes from Treehouse. To evaluate the usability of the proposed design and ensure that key interactions were intuitive, I conducted a user test.
Five participants took part in the study. Each participant interacted with the app on a mobile device while I observed their behavior and audio-recorded the sessions for further analysis.
The testing was conducted early in the design process to allow for efficient iteration. Identifying usability issues at this stage made it easier to refine the design before final decisions were made and development began.
User test conclusions
One out of five participants experienced difficulty understanding how to add bananas to the cart. This indicated a lack of clarity in the interaction design. To address this, I recommend introducing a clearer call-to-action, such as an “Add to cart” or “View details” button, directly associated with the product image to guide user behavior.
Three out of five participants expressed a need for clearer feedback when interacting with the app. For example, after adding an item, the interface should provide immediate confirmation—such as a message indicating that the product has been added to the cart—along with options to either view the cart or continue shopping. Alternatively, updating the cart icon with the number of items in real time would reinforce this feedback.
Two participants noted that the absence of product images reduced the overall appeal of the interface. Incorporating images would not only enhance the visual experience but also support faster product recognition.
Based on these observations, the start page would benefit from providing more contextual product information, either directly within the listing or via a clearer interaction when selecting items (e.g., tapping on “Yellow bananas”). This was the point in the flow where participants showed the most frustration, particularly when the expected action—adding an item via the plus icon—did not produce a clear or immediate result.
Key learnings
I conducted both the interviews and usability testing independently. While this provided valuable hands-on experience, it also presented certain challenges. Balancing observation with facilitating the session—such as encouraging participants to think aloud—made it difficult to fully focus on each aspect at the same time.
In retrospect, involving a second researcher would have improved the quality of the sessions. This would have allowed one person to moderate the session while the other focused on observation and note-taking, leading to more detailed insights and a smoother testing process.