Revolutionizing Whole Foods Market's Online Presence

Whole Foods Market

2020

Reimagining the online presence of Whole Foods Market to align with changing customer behaviors, emphasizing inspirational shopping with pickup and delivery options.

Revolutionizing Whole Foods Market's Online Presence

Whole Foods Market holds a unique position in the grocery industry: it is a premium, purpose-driven company. However, given the shift toward online shopping, there is a concern that brand value will erode over time for customers who primarily experience the brand through Whole Foods on Amazon. Customers are interested in engaging with the brand directly online, and our digital channels have high organic traffic despite being mostly informational. Our hypothesis is that we could leverage this interest to drive deeper brand engagement and acquire new online shoppers by offering a fully-branded shopping experience—the online equivalent of walking into the magic of a Whole Foods Market store.

The Problem

Current Experience Audit

During live observations of users' Whole Foods Market on Amazon experience, we noticed a significant number of users relying heavily on the search bar to build their carts. Users highlighted challenges in the browsing experience compared to in-store shopping, and many noted the monotony in the process of repeatedly adding weekly items like eggs, milk, and bread to the cart.

Pain Points and Unmet Needs

Irrelevant search results
Confusing product quantities and unit of measure
Multiple steps in recipe and meal planning
Online categories not matching their local store
Difficulty in feeling inspired, boredom

Brand Confusion

WFM shoppers expressed not fully understanding the brand connection between WFM and Amazon, and many questioned whether their items are coming from a warehouse or their local store. Global leadership teams worry that the brand will erode over time as many competitors are catching up in the organic and health-forward space.

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I met with key stakeholders from Product, Engineering and Business to present key findings from user testing so we could align on a differentiated storefront. I showcased the pros and cons of each approach and we collectively aligned on a differentiated storefront. This ensures:

No cart conflict when checking out separately
No confusion between fulfillment promises
Clear and logical ingress and egress points that enables customers to orient themselves
Alignment with customers primary mission to order catering
Browse, search and filtering UX is for the catering menu only

Through a mix of user testing and generative research, we uncovered the distinct needs of the catering customer. The insights compelled us to re-work the project plan and allow more time for up-front discovery work. Now the real work begins...

Flow 2: Meals planned to perfection

Audience: Families, Culinary Enthusiasts

This second concept sets out to provide our avid planners with a tool that makes them super shoppers. When we reduce the time from planning, we can focus on building satisfaction. Shopping for groceries becomes more delightful when focusing on the food you love. These screens focus on the mobile app experience in which we focused on reducing the friction our customers experience as they plan their meals for the week. Building your meal plan translates into building your cart at the same time. Build your own bundle too!

After some rapid and informal research, it became evident that customers in the meal planner group enjoy creating weekly meal plans, even specifying days when they don't require meals. These plans are usually crafted based on the ingredients in their fridge and pantry, inspiration from recipes or favorites, and family preferences.

Learnings

Engaging in this project emphasized the shared vision across many teams within the organization. The significance of early prototyping and testing became apparent, shaping user priorities for roadmap planning and preventing the pursuit of undesired paths. This project paved the path for UX credibility and the need to have a strong Product and UX team.

Flow 3: All of your favorites, automated

Audience: Single professionals, dual-income households

Looking further into the future, can we leverage what we know about our customers to create an intelligent and personalized shopping experience that can do the shopping for you? We want to allow for full customization and control for those who want it, or no work at all. Either way, groceries show up every week. Think automated meal plans or an auto-generated cart.

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Flow 3: All of your favorites, automated

Audience: Single professionals, dual-income households

Basil Design System

Taking on the overhaul of the website necessitated the creation of a new digital design language system. This system is designed to embody and reflect the brand essence, conveying organic, intuitive and welcoming. In technical terms, it needs to be extensible, accessible, and reusable

“The Whole Foods Market website should be Disneyland for food lovers. It should inspire the senses, spark a sense of discovery, encourage people to explore — while conveying a sense of order and ease.”

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Moderated Concept Testing

Remote Moderated Prototype Evaluation with n=21 customers

Key questions:

What features were users gravitating towards?
What brings them the most hesitation?
How did the site make them feel compared to shopping in-store?
Would they be more likely to use this site or stay on Amazon?

Overwhelming positive feedback proved that customers were interested in the following themes when it comes to shopping for groceries online.
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1. Increased Efficiency
2. Inspirational Content and Recommended Items
3. Personalization
4. Brand Recognition

Post Launch

In-store Pickup Location

During store intercepts, customers were not clear where they needed to pick up their order. Store layouts are unique from store to store which makes it difficult to implement a solution across all stores. We worked with Marketing to design clear signage designating where to go after placing the order as well as displaying a map on the confirmation screen.

(OUTCOME and OPPORTUNITIES)

(1-Outcome)

Alignment

After presenting the work back to Whole Foods Leadership, everyone was aligned to start the process of phasing the transition to e-commerce.

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UX Credibility

This effort laid the foundation for championing UX within the organization. Our team received positive feedback, opening up opportunities for individuals to gain insights into the realm of UX and comprehend the responsibilities of the role.

(2-Next Steps)

Team Roadshows

I spent many hours walking key teams at Whole Foods and Amazon to spread the sentiment around the desire to have a brand-aligned experience.

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Roadmap Planning

I strategized and worked with my Product partners to provide insight on problem areas that customers spent time giving feedback on to plan out future roadmaps.

(3-Project Team)‍

Dream Team

Product Design Lead: Hanisha Patel

UX Manager: Ryan Hovenweep

Brand Design Support: Colin Decker

Product Manager: Mike Kolarik

Research Partners: WFM Consumer Insights Team, C+R Agency

Final Prototype & Highlight Reel: Funsize Digital Agency

*All images are owned by Whole Foods Market.