Gachi Grocer Stocking immigrant grocer’s shelves one connection at a time
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Meet my Uncle This is my uncle, a grocery store owner situated in my hometown of Uniondale, NY. Driven with a purpose of always providing for his family and securing a better future for us than he had growing up, he came to this country from South Korea to start a business, specifically a small grocery store.
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More than just a store It’s with this small store that funded my mom and her cousin to come here to pursue an education; and after some time, the whole family followed suit all in hopes to have a better future together, all right here in America
For immigrant entrepreneurs, the path to owning a business is also a path to securing generational well-being for their families….
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But like with any business venture
it has its challenges…
Restocking is pricey My Uncle commutes to the city every week for products he needs to keep the market in stock; the reason for the self commute rather than ordering restock services is the high prices that some of these direct-to-store options can accumulate.
For independent immigrant-owned grocery markets with far less capital than big-box retailers, going to these
services can become a financial burden on the families who run them
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Interview Takeaway
You can’t really get a profit from delivering stock to store because every box they charge a percentage. I wouldn’t be making anything out of what we sell if I went to them;
it’s robbery, so I do it myself - Uncle Kim
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Helping hands A small portion of the restocking falls to independent Wagon jobbers in the area who drop by to sell items that the Market may need. However, these services don’t always equate to the needs of the store upon the day when these Wagoners do arrive
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A Wagon what? Meet Alonzo, a local Wagon Jobber. Unlike regular distributors, the items they have on their trucks are bought and sold by them and them alone. What they make depends on their own sales prowess and like my uncle, their entire business is dependent on their shoulders to keep afloat
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Interview Takeaway
I come here when I can; sometimes they buy but sometimes, nothing; Depends on the week
- Alonzo
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Value
Proposition. Gachi Grocer is a mobile delivery service application that connects both immigrant grocers in need of quality restock services with immigrant wagon-jobbers to improve both parties’ individual business needs as well as the well-being of the diverse communities they provide for; unlike Iberia and Horizon Distributors
Wagoners seek Grocers
Payment & business relationship established Accessible product browsing and trusted quality restocks
Customizable prices and business discoverability
Grocers review Wagoners
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Agile Weekly Sprint Timeline
Week 2
Week 1
Week 3
Feb 20
Feb 13
Feb 27
Week 4
Week 6
Week 5
Mar 06
Mar 20
Mar 13
Week 8
Week 7
Apr 03
Mar 27
Week 9
Week 10
Apr 10
Apr 17
Week 11 Apr 24
Ideate
Customer surveys
Ideate
Interview run Ideate
Paper surveys Ideate
Collect media Ideate
User data reframing Ideate
Ideate
Competitive benchmarking
UI inspiration outlook Design
Design
Design solution proposal
Design validation Design
Design
High-Fi wireframes
Interaction models
Design
Design
Interface style guide
Low-Fi sketches Design
Design validation
Design
Mid-Fi wireframes Design
Design validation
Week 12 May 01
User Research
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User Research
Customer Surveys 42 participants
Site Visits 7 store observations 13h 35m
Task Walkthroughs 5 participants 8h 10m
User Research
Narrative Interviews
Semi-Structured Interviews
Structured Customer Interviews
4 participants
5 participants
26 participants
12h 16m
7h 22m
2h 34m
User Research
They have the fruits my aunty likes and it’s right around the corner. I don’t drive, so it's just really convenient.
- Angie
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Why do you shop at these specific markets? 42 responses
33% Close to home
21% They sell the ethnic food products I like
21% 21%
17%
Affordable Prices
Want to support Reveal experience Patten | VIS428W Source: Shoppe survey
In your community, there are a variety of American Immigrant owned markets 42 responses
71% 11% Agree
Don’t know
21% 16% Disagree Reveal experience Patten | VIS428W Source: Shoppe survey
How long have you been shopping at these locations? 42 responses
72% 5%
6+ Years
2-4 years
21% 22% 0-2 years Reveal experience Patten | VIS428W Source: Shoppe survey
These markets have items that are also available at larger supermarket chains 42 responses
71%
16%
11%
Agree
Don’t know
Disagree Reveal experience Patten | VIS428W Source: Shoppe survey
Competitive Analysis No
HORIZEN
Yes
DISTRIBUTORS
Rating system
Free to Join
Mobile application
Grocer chooses driver
Local community focus
Diverse restock prices
Non company specific products
Personas
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Storyboard
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The hunt for Mangos Jasmine’s grandfather is coming to visit later in the day but before he comes she wants to get him his favorite homeland fruit from Jamaica, East Indian Mangos
She soon arrives at her local small grocery store that carries certain ethnic food products she can’t find elsewhere
All gone However, when she gets there Jasmine realizes that the specific Mangos that she needs are out of stock
Jasmine seeks out the owner and asks him if there are any East Indian Mangos left in the store that maybe she can’t find
Asking the owner Mr Kim then checks the shelf and in his inventory and realizes the store is in-fact completely out of stock of East Indian Mangos
Specifying
Too tired to go to the city to restock, Mr. Kim opens up Gachi Grocer and
Wagoner picked
After filtering out those that don’t fit
specifies the exact item he needs to filter out
his requirements, he finds a Wagoner
wagoners that don’t carry have said item
and taps on browse wagon
Browse and request
Mr. Kim then browses Fernando’s wagon picks out the number of Mangos he needs then confirms his restock request
Wagoner alerted Meet Fernando; a local Wagon jobber who, while driving, is alerted by using his hands-free device of a restock request
Wagoner alerted II Fernando reviews the request of 30 East Indian Mangos and is given the option to either accept or decline
Request Accepted Mr Kim then gets alerted that Fernando has accepted his restock request and that his payment has gone through
Delivery arrival Fernando arrives at Mr. Kim’s store and shows him the delivery. After reviewing the quality of the package himself, Mr. Kim thanks Fernando for the service before sending him off his way
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One happy shopper Jasmine while browsing for other items comes back around and realizes that those same mangos she was asking for are now restocked. Happy to finally have the Mangos, she checks-out at the store counter
Community a little bit happier Jasmine, now a few hours after buying the newly restocked Mangos, is at her home with her grandfather; There they both enjoy his favorite homeland fruit together
Interaction Models
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Grocer
Before delivery: Specify Wagoner search (Flow 2.2)
Grocer
Before delivery: Request restock to Wagoner (Flow 2.5)
Grocer
Before delivery: Wagoner Review (Flow 2.7)
Low Fidelity Sketches
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Community (Grocer view)
Wagoner Profile (Grocer view)
Restock Request (Wagoner View)
Wagon (Grocer view)
Review Wagoner
Checkout
Paper Prototype
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Whole lot of Paper Following my initial sketches I wanted to further test my design decisions through paper prototyping; there I made multiple key screens with different intractable elements in order to gather data on certain design decisions before going into mid-fidelity comps
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Mid-Fidelity Comps
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Wagon (Grocer view)
Your Basket
Checkout
Item Editor (Wagoner view)
Accept Order Request
Checkout
UI Comps
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Community (Grocer View)
Browse Wagon
Checkout
Community (Wagoner View)
Wagoner Review
Leave a note
Prototype Mr. Kim requests a restock
Product Walkthrough
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Specify Wagoner In the community map the grocer would come across different wagoners around their specific area
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Specify Item The user would tap the search keyword prompt to type in a specific item(s) that they need a Wagoner to have in order to request a restock to filter out any others that don’t have those same items in stock
2
Price Range The grocer can also determine the price range they are willing to pay for the items by tapping one of the four dollar icon button prompts.
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3
Apply After determining each option, the grocer taps
3
on the apply button to filter out Wagoners that don’t match up to their specific search requirements
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Wagoner After filtering out Wagoners, the grocer finds one that is near their area that also matches the search specifications that he had applied, with that the Grocer taps on the Wagoner’s profile icon
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1
Browse Wagon After reviewing the Wagoner’s stats in regards to overall rating amongst grocers and the community, as well as how many restocks he has completed, routine grocers and different badges he has collected; the grocer can tap on the call to action prompt to browse the Wagon
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Add to Basket The grocer is greeted to the Wagoner’s wagon. There the Grocer is able to browse through different ethnic based items that the Wagoner has on stock to decide what they need for their own market in terms of restocking. After some browsing however the Grocer taps on the add to basket icon
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2
My Basket After adding 50 Mangos to their basket, the Grocer taps on the basket button
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Continue to checkout After reviewing all items in their basket, determining if they want to adjust the quantity of their selection, the Grocer taps on the Continue to checkout button
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Delivery options The grocer is greeted with four delivery options, after picking one the order price can change depending on if the Grocer asks for a Instant delivery rather than other delivery options
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Confirm Order After choosing a delivery option and reviewing their order one last time, the Grocer taps on the confirm order button
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Rate Service After their restock request is delivered, the grocer is prompted with a Wagoner review. The first screen asking to rate the Wagoner’s service from 1 out of 5 stars
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Rate Service II The grocer is then asked to pick anything in specific that the Wagoner’s service entailed.
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Rate Service III The final part of the review user interaction results in leaving a note to the Wagoner by tapping the note section of the screen. However if the Grocer feels no need to leave a note they are free to skip this section entirely
End of user flow Following the highly rated review, the Wagoner can be seen on the map with a star which alerts the grocer that they previously shopped at this wagon prior and had a very positive experience; thus allowing further potential 2 repeat business transactions with the Wagoner
Product Achievement Entrepreneurship isn’t easy, especially for people coming from another country; but after months of researching my uncle’s store, Alonzo’s wagoner business as well as the diverse community that they both serve, having a platform like Gachi Grocer that can help assist both parties keeping their business ventures thriving can have benefits to not only them but to the diverse customers that they serve and hopefully, in the end ,making our little community…
…A little bit happier
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Future Work With my family interviews what I discovered is that cheap prices aren’t always a major deterring factor for grocers, however, the quality of products that grocers are getting as well as the personality that they’re getting those items from are paramount, so further building out this design solution can help bring on board more grocers to the app in to connect with different Wagoners that fit their own business restock needs today and into the future
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