As someone who frequently cooks, I was disappointed by the current selection of mobile apps focused on shopping lists. Some apps worked well for managing lists while lacking convenience features for in store shopping. To build a better list experience, I started Webtap LLC to ship ListAid to the app stores.
| Company | Webtap LLC |
| Role | UX Designer Front-End Developer |
| Platform | iOS |
| Tools | Sketch Photoshop Miro Xcode |
| Team | Business Attorneys |
Problem
Provide home cooks with a way to easily track out of stock items so they can be replenished on their next trip to the store.
User Research
To understand what users look for in a digital shopping list, I performed desk research into US consumer grocery shopping demographics and behaviors. Shopper’s primarily create lists for the following reasons:
- Not forgetting items
- Save time when shopping
- Purchase items for recipes
- Work with someone else to grocery shop
This secondary research also provided insight into how shoppers are using technology in the kitchen and at the store:
43%
Use Digital Lists
2 Lists
Average
58%
Use Voice Assistants
These statistics helped support the business case for launching this product in a market with few direct competitors but many indirect competitors. Another encouraging statistic for the continued success of this product was Millennial adoption of digital shopping lists growing 6% from 2012 to 2015.
Competitive Analysis
Having tried a variety of apps to find a solution for my needs, I knew going into the project there was a gap in the market. Below is a table illustrating the opportunity to deliver a solution that integrated with voice assistants, saved items for reuse, and create recipes. The lock screen widget would be a nice to have for those, like myself, who do not want to keep unlocking their phone.
| Shoppylist | Grocery | AnyList | MinimaList | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Competitor | Direct | Direct | Direct | Indirect |
| iOS | ● | ● | ● | ● |
| Android | ● | ● | ||
| Siri / Hey Google | ● | |||
| Reusable List Items | ● | ● | ● | |
| Lock Screen Widget | ● | ● | ||
| Create Recipes | ● | ● |
Requirements
Based on the research conducted, the following requirements were set for the product roadmap:
- List items are saved for easy reuse
- Group items into categories for saving recipes
- Order list items to optimize the in store shopping experience
- Integrate with the phone’s voice assistant
The research did state that working with someone else to grocery shop was a priority. I knew this product would eventually need a platform agnostic backend to sync between Android and iOS. In the interest of shipping an MVP, the 1.0 would focus on individual iOS users.
User Flow
With a shallow feature list for the MVP, the user flow was concise. The Welcome screen on first app startup served as an opportunity to start the yearly subscription to access the full app. Users who use the free tier have a restricted feature set to serve as a trial. If they do subscribe, they are encouraged to enable Siri before landing on the “Lists” screen.
From the “Add Items” screen, users can view or save recipes by creating Groups. I choose the Group naming convention so the feature could be used for other purposes such as adding weekly staples with one tap.
Design
During the research phase, I did find feedback online stating users prefer utility apps to have a toned down color pallet. This aligned with my thinking that a stripped down UI would appeal to the widest possible audience. The color blue is used for primary touch points as this color communicates trust.
While talking to a prospective user, they suggested the ability to cross an item off as you would with a paper list. The psychology behind this is great because people find it satisfying to cross something off their list. To recreate this satisfying feeling, items on a list can be completed with a swipe.
On the Add Items screen, items can be added by checking them. Groups are treated with a grey pill bar to indicate they can be opened for viewing or editing.
To satisfy the growing use of voice assistants in the kitchen, ListAid natively integrates with Siri. This integration gives shoppers a second interface for adding items to their lists which is more sanitary than touching the phone.
Users can add a list widget to their Today View, allowing them to complete items without having to unlock the phone. Due to human factors constraints on widgets, the swipe to complete gesture could not be used here.
Starting the 1.0 production build, I developed the bare minimum in Xcode and shared it with others. Despite the lack of signifiers, users found the gesture driven interface to be intuitive. One tester even commented: “This is the most graphically engineered shopping list I have ever seen.”
Beta App
Thoughts
To further address shopper’s desire to save time, I would like to understand how shoppers navigate the store. If they are navigating in a consistent order, there could be an opportunity to use machine learning to auto sort their list. This can save shoppers time not having to back track for an infrequent item they forgot to pickup.
While I set out with the intention of launching this product to the public, the amount of development work to create a platform that could scale to Android was out of reach. This would be a must since a lot of households have adults that are on each platform and want to sync lists.