Innovating service offerings to capture a new customer demographic
January - April 2022
My Role
User Research Lead
User Research LeadResearch planning, guide development, interviews, contextual inquiries, UX concept development, user testing, survey development & analysis
Team
(1) User Research Lead & Designer (me) (2) Product Managers (M.S. Info Systems) (1) Financial Analyst (MBA) (1) Business Analyst (MBA)
Client Context
Giant Eagle (Carnegie Mellon MBA Capstone Project)
Stakeholders included Customer Experience, Microfulfillment, Supply Chain, and Retail Innovation
TL;DR
Research Goal
How might we keep pace with customer expectations for instant delivery to avoid losing our competitive advantage?
Giant Eagle approached our capstone team wanting to learn more about the instant delivery grocery space, which they lacked knowledge about. The interest in this space was prompted by three core assumptions:
Expand on existing delivery service - Giant Eagle had an existing delivery/curbside service and they assumed they’d be expanding on this to meet customers’ expectations for instant
Capture a new market segment - Giant Eagle’s current consumer base misses younger generations as the average customer is age 40+ with a family, as this segment ages, they may lose their competitive advantage
Leverage their scale/resources - grocery stores sit empty in the late nights, an opportunity cost for the business
Project Highlights
We presented our proposal for an instant delivery service, Giant Eagle Express, and strategy for implementation to senior stakeholders. Outcomes of our solution include:
It addresses gaps in late night food that exist in Giant Eagle’s core markets (Pittsburgh, Ohio, West Virginia) and provides an ability to order late-night food that “feels safer” for consumers.
It creates a revenue-generating use for Giant Eagle’s stores, which lay idle after 9:00 pm each day.
Giant Eagle partnered with DoorDash to officially launched an instant delivery solution in 2024
Project Process
Understanding the Problem Space
I guided my teammates in conducting observations at 4 Giant Eagle locations, performing 12 intercept interviews, and shadowing a “picker” to understand the store operations. I also analyzed 8 competitor companies.
Competitive Analysis
Guerilla Research
Competitive Analysis + Market Sizing
What does the grocery delivery landscape look like? What gaps exist in the market?
Being new to the grocery delivery problem space, our team conducted a competitive analysis and thorough background research to understand what competitors exist regionally and nationally. This helped inform the recruitment strategy and screener to target participants familiar with these platforms.
To understand the potential of the market, a teammate of mine conducted a market sizing analysis using open source census data and Giant Eagle to gauge the market potential.
Intercept Interviews + Observations + Shadowing
What does a typical grocery shopping experience look like? How should we shape our interview guides?
To immersive ourselves in the problem space, we conducted guerilla research—intercept interviews and in-store observations to better understand the grocery shopping process.
We also shadowed a “picker” to gain insight into the operations that go into fulfilling a delivery order.
We learned...
The top competitors in the instant delivery space were GoPuff, DashMart, Gorillaz, and Jokr, among others. We used this information to inform our participant recruitment strategy.
The guerilla research was not the most insightful, but provided a sense of the asks involved in grocery shopping to inform our discussion guides.
Gauging Customer Expectations
For our generative user research, I led the recruitment and development of a discussion guide for contextual inquiries. After the first session, I realigned and pivoted our strategy, leading the team in conducting in-depth interviews instead.
Contextual Inquiry
In-Depth Interviews
Contextual Inquiry
What are consumer needs and expectations surrounding grocery delivery?
Given that Giant Eagle already had an existing delivery and curbside service, our stakeholders assumed that offering instant delivery would simply be an extension of these offerings. To better understand customers expectations regarding delivery timing, we planned 5 contextual inquiries.
Who: Local users who used delivery platforms such as Instacart, Amazon Fresh, etc.
How: Planned a contextual inquiry observing users as they made a grocery plan, ordered groceries, and selected for delivery
Why: Using contextual inquiry would help avoid self-report bias present in interviews
Pivot Point
Instant delivery is not simply a grocery delivery service expedited. The need for instant delivery is completely different than the need for general grocery delivery. The need for instant is driven by impromptu “trigger” moments.
In-Depth Interviews
What are consumer needs and expectations surrounding instant grocery delivery? What is the instant delivery journey?
After realizing the need for instant grocery delivery is trigger-based, driven by impromptu cravings and needs, I led the team in pivoting our research strategy. Contextual inquiries would be impractical as the need for instant was spontaneous. We cancelled all scheduled contextual inquiries and reworked our research guide to focus on in-depth interviews that utilized the artifact analysis contextual method.
Who: Users in Pittsburgh, NYC, and California that used instant platfroms like GoPuff, Jokr, DashMart, etc.
How: Artifact analysis where participants were asked to bring two receipts/confirmation emails from recent orders on these platforms and discuss them
Why: Interviews allowed us to discuss these “trigger” moments and recruit users from different locations that use services not currently available in Pittsburgh
Uncovering the Customer Journey & Insights
I led the synthesis of generative research to identify three main insights, five use cases, a user journey, and functional and emotional jobs to be done.
Affinity Diagramming
Journey Mapping
Jobs to Be Done
Affinity Diagramming
What did we learn from generative research?
In order to synthesize the eight interviews and one contextual inquiry that we conducted, our team reviewed and tagged interview transcripts and recordings using Notably. We then grouped tags to identify insights and core use cases. Our three main insights were:
Five core use cases exist for instant delivery.
There’s an inverse relationship between basket size and time criticality.
The need for instant is strongest for students making this a pivotal point to attract new customers.
We learned...
There are five core use cases for instant grocery delivery.
Cravings Triggers
Desiring a specific food where consumers seek instant gratification
Medium Criticality
Key Emotions: Comfort, Joy
Time-Based Triggers
Missing a specific item that is needed urgently
High Criticality
Key Emotions: Relief
Small-Scale Planning
Augmenting weekly grocery orders when in need of convenience
Low Criticality
Key Emotions: Assured, Proactive
Financially-Driven
Leveraging promotions, deals, or credit card perks
Low Criticality
Key Emotions: Accomplished, Proud
Specialty Item Hunting
Seeking niche one-off items that are hard to find in stores
Low Criticality
Key Emotions: Satisfied
Frameworks + Evaluation Matrix
Which use cases should we focus on for the initial pilot test?
In order to evaluate the various use cases and decide which should be the focus of the pilot test, we compared the use cases along five categories: effort to implement, value to customer, time difficulty, proclivity to pay extra, and inventory size. These categories were identified both from the user interviews and based on stakeholder priorities. We also mapped the use cases on a matrix comparing time criticality and frequency of orders.
From our evaluation, we identified the Cravings Trigger and Time-Based Triggers as the most time critical use cases. Due to their time-sensitive nature, these were also the cases where users were most likely to pay extra. For these reasons, we focused on these for the initial prototype and pilot test.
Key Use Cases
Cravings Triggers
Sample Items
Late-night snacks like pizza, chicken fingers, ice cream, chips
Comfort
Joy
Medium Criticality
“I've ordered from them twice last week. I am addicted now and I keep craving that meal… it's seriously some of the most delicious food I've had and honestly that's what anyone cares about. I will pay the cost… They came in under 20 minutes and granted… the food was hot when it came to me, it was fresh and it was so delicious.”
“I use GoPuff for tampons. It's something you don't think of… I probably use it less for food items and more for tampons, toilet paper, those things that you actually need immediately especially at night when everything is closed, but those emergency items like ‘Oh I need toilet paper right now.’ I'll do it because the delivery is 15 minutes.”
- Daniela, 25, Pittsburgh, GoPuff
Journey Mapping + Jobs to Be Done
What is the instant grocery delivery journey? What are the functional and emotional jobs to be done?
Since a main goal of ours was to understand the instant grocery delivery journey, our team mapped out the journey along with high and low points. The journey was broken into four key phases starting with the “trigger” moment all the way through brand extension. We identified the functional and emotional jobs to be done throughout such as providing joy and comfort, offering relief, and feeling accomplished.
Refining Our Solution
After uncovering these insights, we ideated solutions as a team and I brought them to life in mid-fidelity concept sketches. I then led user testing of these concepts and analysis of a small-scale survey about brand perception.
Concepting
User Testing
Survey
Concepting + User Testing
How might we satisfy the triggers for instant delivery customers?
Our team conducted a crazy 8’s ideation exercise and I developed seven of our most promising concepts into mid-fidelity wireframes.
We used usertesting.com to gauge user reactions to the 7 concepts and ask them to prioritize three.
Who: Users in Pittsburgh, NYC, and California that used instant platfroms like GoPuff, Jokr, DashMart, etc.
How: Unmoderated user tests that allowed participants to think aloud and provide feedback about concepts and select their top three
Why: UserTesting.com enabled us to receive feedback from a wider audience in a short timeframe
Survey
What would the instant delivery experience look and feel like? What offerings should be piloted?
When refining the solution, a key question is how the instant delivery experience would fit in with the greater Giant Eagle brand. Based on feedback about GetGo, Giant Eagle’s convenience store and gas station, from user interviews, our team held the hypothesis that a convenient, instant delivery solution would make sense with the GetGo brand, but we wanted to verify the brand perception of both Giant Eagle and GetGo.
Who: 41 Pittsburgh residents with knowledge and exposure to both Giant Eagle and GetGo
How: A short, four-question survey on Google Forms distributed to various listservs and groups
Why: Deploying a small-scale survey was a quick and scrappy way to get answers about brand perception and offerings
We learned...
Gamification & incentivization, personalized recommendations, and cost comparisons were the concepts that performed best.
Both the Giant Eagle and GetGo brands are associated with “convenience,” but GetGo is associated with a number of negative words as well. For this reason, as well as the potential to scale offerings, we shaped the experience under the main Giant Eagle brand.
The offerings most desired were grocery items, quick meals, snacks, and household items. For the pilot test, we recommended that these offerings as well as alcohol be prioritized.
Implementing the Solution
After uncovering these insights, we ideated solutions as a team and I brought them to life in mid-fidelity concept sketches. I then led user testing of these concepts and analysis of a small-scale survey about brand perception.
Prototyping
Roadmaps
KPIs
Final Solution
Trigger
It’s late at night and Carly is craving pepperoni pizza... She remembers that after her weekly trip to Giant Eagle, she got a discount for Giant Eagle Express in case she forgot something
Order
Carly heads to the Giant Eagle Express app and sees her favorite pizza as personally ‘recommended’
Order
She is relieved her pizza is available and will be delivered quickly with an acceptable price
Delivery
Carly waits 15 minutes and watches the order head to her apartment
Extension
After receiving her order, Carly gains points in her ‘Perks Wallet’ to put towards a future order
Roadmap + KPIs + Operational Implications
What should the pilot test look like and how will the service scale? How should we measure success?
Based on our research, we needed to make our insights, recommendations, and designs actionable for our stakeholders. This required thinking through the various operational implications for how this service would be rolled out. What would the hours be? What would the delivery timeframe be? What markets should we start with?
This also required our team to think about the plan for scaling the service and building out the application one, three, and nine months into the future. Finally, we identified financial, customer, and product metrics to track performance over time.
Project Outcome
While our team’s work was completed at the end of April 2022, the client was planning to pilot this solution in late 2022. They opted to launch this service in partnership with DoorDash versus building an app themselves.
Client feedback that this was the best CMU capstone project Giant Eagle had seen as an annual sponsor AND that they were sending our presentation internally as a best-in-class example of how to pitch an idea and strategy
Decisions about the brand and types of offerings to focus on for the pilot test
Insight into the instant delivery problem space, which the stakeholders had previously never explored
Based on financial model, estimated to turn a profit two yeas after launch and capture >100k in weekly sales
Customer Benefits
Feedback from customers that that this type of solution would help fill the gap for late night food in Pittsburgh
Feedback that customers would feel safer getting delivery with this option than traveling to GetGo for made-to-order dishes
