Case Study UX/UI: StokBox

StokBox

How do we minimise food packaging and increase recycling and reuse?

To find out digital opportunities for a resuable dispensing platform within a supermarket.

Background

Our client is a startup venture that deals with smart reusable technology. This revolves around sustainability and recycling to remove wastage in our environment particularly around food and packaging.

Challenge

The client believes that creating a digital dispensing platform at point of purchase, coupled with smart reusable packaging is going to be the future of consumer food supply. The agenda is to find out what potential digital opportunities are available.

My Role

With a team of three and the timeframe of 7 weeks, we had shared responsibilities and similar tasks up to the point of the problem statement when we decided to work separately towards the finalisation of the project.

Opportunities

Due to the nature of the project there are many opportunities to apply design thinking so there was not a final digital deliverable the client was anticipating, but there was indication of an app.

We need to find out how can we understand the customer's need and desires via actionable insights and personas:

What would be required to engage this audience?
What knowledge do they need and how can we effectively deliver this to them?
Will nudge theory concepts work on them?
How can friction be minimised with an app experience?
Is it necessary to have an area within the app for assigned packaging?

Our burning questions for our client

After reading the brief we had an intensive discussion on what exactly are the client's wants and needs for the digital deliverable to narrow down the problem.

Even before the client interview we started creating a user discussion guide to start our research.

This along with how to find and identify and reach out towards the target audiences as this was paramount. This will potentially be interviews and online surveys to gather these insights.

What are the key messages for potential clients and users?

“We deeply believe it is necessary to focus on innovation and business models that design out waste, keep materials reused, as this will help protect and restore our fragile ecosystem.”

Paul Keaveny,

Founder and Owner
at StokBox

The Client Interview

How did the precursor to StokBox come about? What did it look like?

"Our initial MVP was dispensing Dry Pet Food - targeting Pet Owners as they will be more considerably well off and then on to consumer food."

What demographic are you intended to reach, and what are you trying to learn from them?

"Age and occupation may not matter until we dig deeper. Personal income within a family can have different behaviours. What is most important is why they shop the way they do."

What consumer thinking/behaviours are you trying to change?

"Particularly looking at friction and reward and what is emotionally rewarding. We need to find out what education they need in sustainable shopping in order for us to fully understand more."

Who is currently involved in terms of the manufacturer, retailer or brand?

"We are currently in talks with Tilda rice that are interested as they have flexibility in volume, but are striving to liaise with more brand owners and manufacturers to deal with logistics at this stage."

What do you think your competitors do well?

"The Loop model uses leverage from the brand owners, also utilising smart passive RFID with packaging, along with building collateral for their IP. Whereas MIWA has a competitive advantage as a supplier along with a companion app."

What did your previous research uncover?

"We knew that consumers need to understand that the packaging is safe and tamper proof and allergen safe, so our next step is to look into containment segregation for example allergies."

"Revisiting the MVP and to de-risk upfront costs via AI and Automaton Design. Look at economic models, not just behavioural."

"Taking into account more on accessibility for disabled consumers."

"Persuadables - what is going to take to bring them onboard."

"Look more into how consumers shopped in the past."

Behavourial Economics and 'Crossing the Chasm'

Our first client meeting encapsulated the high level objectives that related to the brief, reinforcing and understanding shoppers; and how willing they are to change.

To fully understand the motives and behaviours of grocery shoppers what they do at the moment.
Analyse the results from the screener survey to find out if they are willing to change.
Utilising Job Stories to help us define our problem statement as their will be too many potential personas

Another insight we looked at is that the experience could potentially be tailored to each customer in a granular level and really focusing on their shopping habits; and also the potential for more tailored insights via the surveys helping the brands hit their most effective demographic.

We also had a second followup discussing the Product Adoption Curve, (Diffusion of Innovations by Everett M.Rogers) that visualises the potential users that may use the service.

How can we help the Innovators and Early Adopters that enjoy and find the service emotionally rewarding cross The Chasm and continue using the service. We hypothesise that the early market may spend more time exploring with an emotional attachment to the shopping experience. It is also the key helping the Late Majority and Laggards to zero waste, that is also another challenge.

Acquiring top level insights from Shoppers

Our first point of call for the research was to send out a screener survey we created and these were the most important insights gathered.

We made a screener survey over the Slack channel, Facebook groups, Linkedin and nextdoor.co.uk.

Because of how broad our audience was we gained over 170 responses over various platforms of social networks. and about 120+ was open to further research

The insights we considered important for the surveys include:

Reason for choosing your Grocery Shop (e.g. Sainsburys, local markets).
The importance of Recyclable Packaging (rating from 1 to 10).
Traveling and the use of Shopping Bags (buy or take your own).

There are also high level themes and topics via individual and group consensus such as Apps, Loyalty, Recycling, Refillables and Packaging.

Mobile Applications

Personalise your experience
Alert you of the location of your shopping
Don’t like tracking personal data

Refillable Stations

Consider if its cheaper then normal grocery
If I can buy in small quantities I will consider.
I don’t want to carry bulky containers with me.

Loyalty Cards

Don’t care about loyalty and points
Enjoys using loyalty to get discount
Cannot spend my points instantly

Recycling and Packaging

Don’t want the packaging to go to landfill
Doesn’t know where the recycling goes
Don’t check if packaging is recyclable

The competitor space and their services

We looked into the competitor landscape to find out more potential Reusable Systems that were close to the StokBox model along with Reusable Packaging.

Categories included Supply Chain, Proposed Benefits, Features, Digital Integration, Deposit Scheme, Partnerships and Incentives.

Along with this we also took field trips to look at companies that either did Zero Waste services or/and Refillable Systems. This ranged from large companies like Planet Organic, Tesco etc to smaller independent stores like The Source and ReStore to name a few.

I also took the initiative to try out the systems that have a Digital UI to test out the customer experience. This included the instore Boots Instant Photo Development machine Cewe to the Coke FreeStyle Dispenser at the burger chain Five Guys.

Deep dive into the Shoppers key behaviours

We completed 40 interviews with questions that ranged from checkout methods, decision making, awareness to general pain points, loyalty and recycling.

We then compared our answers and extracted key behaviours, observations and quotes (collectively over 1000 data points).

This data synthesis stage was vital and very intensive for the whole team; as this was the base in which we will develop this data into an affinity map. Taking particular notice for high level themes and topics in both as individuals and group consensus

These are our top level findings on our Affinity Mapping.

Subjects include: App, Loyalty, Habits, Bags, Packaging, Allergy, Recycling, Pain points, Government, Incentives, Refilling and Brands.

Open to Change

Change must add value.
Tweak current behaviour not alter.
Incentivised by discounts and loyalty schemes.

Packaging and Recycling

Lack of clarity and transparency on disposal.
Brands, supermarkets need to play their part.
More education needed around recycling.

Going to the Supermarket

Shopping is a necessity, not an experience.
Must remain convenient and swift.
Shoppers want to get in and out quickly.

Reuse and Refill

Reusable bags is high for various reasons.
Where are Refills and how do they work?
Current users are self motivated.

The journey of a potential StokBox shopper

With the insights we have gathered and locating the trends and views of the shoppers we went on to create an extensive Task Analysis.

This will help us try and capture the journey experience via stages in how a regular shopper will interact with a StokBox upon their visit.

We decided our pivot point would be both on driving and walking to the supermarket, as these could have an effect on the whole experience.

While the high level tasks are set when then got down to a more micro level of each task, envisioning how the shopper will react in a granular level.

As a team we decided to each do our own sub-task analysis as this will give us a greater reach into our insights overall upon reviewing the overall task analysis.

With our task analysis done we continued seperately to write our own job stories and then collate them together for evaluation.
We would seperate them on the journey into Before | During | After for our key job stories and then find similar trends on how the shopper behaves.

We had developed over 40 job stories across this framework of Before | During | After framework and then started to prioritise them together.

Following our analysis and evaluation we voted and decided on five job stories of each of the phases above. Below are some extracts.

The Problem Statement and the Team Reshuffle

For this project we did not derive an overall problem statement. The cause is that following numerous job stories and our shortlist evaluation, there was not an unanimous problem that would benefit or overarches all of them.

What we intended to do was to work from the 15 chosen Job Stories and try and prioritise them as potential features within our deliverables. But we still understand that our goal was to encourage positive behaviour change in shoppers for StokBox as a normal everyday shopping experience.

During this stage our mentor and tutor made an unanimous decision to split the current team up. The cause for this was a member did not understand the process fully when explained and so we took our last team task of job stories with us and continued our process individually.

Whereas we thought that it was a setback we were all confident that we could bring this project into its finalisation phase. I had noted to the team that we would still work and support each other until the end even if our outcomes maybe different.

Visualising and storyboarding the scenario

Archetypes

As a team we splitted into three ways, our tutor decided we should each concentrate on our own archetype to focus on more core behaviours.

I wanted to understand how the shopper would react on the Before | During | After framework while utilising the data insights gathered from the Interviews, Surveys, Affinity Mapping and Task Analysis.

Consumer Profile

65 yo single female, shops for 2, looking after elderly mum, does not drive.

Trigger and Agenda
Daughter recommends its more value for money and also flexible in volume.
Needs to be informed that the StokBox refill station is close to her.
To make sure that the food inside is fresh as she is a careful shopper.
She wants to see testimonials of other users.

Storyboarding

Trying to visualise the potential customer journey incorporating the Before | During | After framework on the chosen archetype to set the scene.

Education is priority and how to obtain it

Userflows

I have decided on concentrating on the topic of Education because of even if marketing via the word of mouth maybe a trigger, the potential consumer at the end will need to understand who and how StokBox is before deciding to commit to their first pilot testing of the refill and reuse model.

I started looking at the different entry points on how potential shoppers can find information about StokBox, and decided that the most popular area of focus will be using the search engine on Google or via the supermarket website.

I also took the initiative to look at the flows of other supermarket related websites to look at their services, potential entry points into the onboarding process; whether on the mobile app or the website itself. Below I have envisioned the future flow.

Website Wireframing

My main deliverable will be an educational website surrounding StokBox, but not writing off a potential companion app to utilise other features and benefits.

It will include the following:

Why StokBox, how it works and our partners
Allergy and Integrity of the refilling process and station
Incentives, value and the environmental impact
Potential to have a mobile support app

App Wireframing

For the App I also looked at entry points and variables of exposure of StokBox within these areas.

Via the Supermarket App
Standalone App
Standalone 'Nectar' type App
Integrated App

Digital testing with a potential StokBox customers

Initially I concentrated on the education side that involves the website and then going in depth into the how it works with the companion app. For each prototype I have tested on various participants who has involved in the interview stages of the process. This ranged from factors of travel, age and behaviour when shopping.

I had made a user discussion guide to set the scene and the various tasks to monitor the insights of each person; done via both in-person and remotely via zoom.

These tasks included: find out about StokBox / Signup for Incentives / Learn about Recycling / Download the App / Make your first shop.

Website Prototype

This is my initial web prototype of the entry point via the supermarket website (I have chosen Tesco as an example).

I wanted to give a clear an coherent understanding of StokBox and its mission on the Who and Why questions.

Along with the vital how it works, allergy standards along with the value and environmental impact.

The option to download the companion app, register for incentives and the onboarding process and its account dashboard.

User Testing Feedback

“If the principle is to reduce plastic waste and gain a cash saving then I am 100% onboard.”

“I want to see what brands you are with, more so on cereals. Thinking it’s generic.”

“Make the recycling 101 for everyone’s goto page for education. Through that page you are upselling what StokBox is doing. A depository of sustainability - a little warehouse of information.”

“Integrate sustainability side by side with your incentive not just the refill discount. I need to know whatever I am doing that is making an impact. Don’t cut off this audience.”

“I am not an eco warrior, if it’s in my local then I will try it, if I am then I will travel to the place with StokBox. I don’t see myself going to two places to use StokBox.”

App Prototype

The App prototype is shown as a continuation after the website education and onboarding process. Being a companion app it will be quite vital for the StokBox shopping processes.

There will be a more detailed step by step process guide on how to utilise the app with the station to show the more micro interactions when using the refill stations; thus giving me more consideration and thought within the process for development.

It incorporates a loyalty scheme points system for the user and the gamification of unlocking premium awards.

User Testing Feedback

“I like the variety of photos, drawings and colours with a seperate section for clients, but I need to know more about the service.”

“Separating workflow and onboarding screens. Feels like it’s forcing your hand currently to make an order.”

“You are covering a lot of categories. Maybe tailor it towards specific food types.”

“Bring boxes back to refill, incentive via encouragement.”

“I like how you can save the QR to gallery like apple pay, very handy.”

“Reminder to take your box on second flow, after QR code is generated lie push notifications. To show hygiene on box.”

“The walkthrough feels like a chore ticking via each stage.”

“Distinction between points and offers. Opportunity to save points in the offer part. A bit disconnected.”

“No element of discovery. I cannot go in and browse the store.”

The workflow and mechanics of the Refill Station

Whereas this part of the process (how the refill station works) is vital to StokBox I did not chose it as a potential for a potential digital deliverable e.g. an UI Interface.

The main reason being that I wanted to concentrate on a website and an app as a deliverables as I felt using the nudge theory is a precursor rather then at the station.

But what I have done here is envisage how it could work so I can build it within the app to support my potential StokBox idea of how it works simultaneously.

Other potential solutions was to use reusable flat pack packaging to friction out bulky reusable items along with integrating a points card for data capture at the refill station.

Designing for the StokBox User

Here are some static screens of my final prototype of the website and the mobile app.

Note: Please use Prototypes on a Desktop Computer for full experience. Thank You.

STOKBOX WEBSITE

Note: Please use Prototype on a Desktop Computer for full experience. Thank You.

STOKBOX MOBILE APP

Note: Please use Prototype on a Desktop Computer for full experience. Thank You.

The overall high level findings and future implementations

Key Takeaways

Shoppers in general like to see a goal being met via incentives.
They want more concrete information on investing into the planet.
Customers need to be recognised as changing their shopping habits could be difficult, a potential to push the environmental factors.

Considerations

Contact brands and see if they are willing to diversify and adapt in the StokBox system around brand placement on refill stations.
A new process, as users can be unfamiliar and hesitant to it. A try before you buy idea before you commit.
To sell the story to motivate and pull the consumers, be part of that gang, spread the word of mouth that is one of the strongest form of advertising out there.

What's Next

Presence around social media platforms to create awareness.
Make StokBox as an educational hub for environment issues.
Look into potential partnerships with environmental scientists and potential environmental climate action charity platforms e.g. Ecologi.

A Presentation to StokBox and its related partners

The final presentation was done in-person with the client along with my ex-team members, my tutor and other students.

StokBox_presentation_Team

The evaluation, feedback and insights of the project

From Client

The client was pleased with our outcomes even though it was divided at the end of the project. He was particularly interested in the insights we as a team gained in the UX research phase; that can be used for further analysis and development.

"Andy is one of those guys you'll love working with. A dry wit, a calming influence, but perhaps more importantly incredibly capable creator. We worked on a short project together and was particularly impressed by his work ethic and we were really pleased with the outcomes of his work."

From Team

As a team from the begining until the jobs to be done stage we worked well as we tried to divide and conquer our tasks so we can capture as much research for the initial discovery and define phase. But we was still supporting each other towards our own individual designs.

Challenges we had

From the middle of the project we began to part ways to develop our own final deliverables. Even though we supported one another I believe that if we all stayed as a team our final outcomes with be more consolidated and detailed.

What have I learnt.

This was my capstone project and I had tried to apply and implement all of my UX/UI knowledge. Again I had to be flexible in my approach against the changing dynamics of the team and try to adapt to the best of my ability.

What to do differently?

I would have considered developing the frontend UI of the Refill Station, develop the StokBox brand and consider and cover more of the various touchpoints to develop the prototypes more.

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