Hmart Helper - Food Shopping Assistance App

Sylvia Lee | [email protected] Oct 10 2013Case Study | Hmart Helper Ver 1.0

Hmart Helper Case Study | Product Challenge

The Challenge

Food shoppers do not prepare and cook ethnic food dishes because they do not know where to obtain ingredients.

A pain point that was frequently mentioned was the difficulty in finding cer tain ingredients in an ethnic food supermarket.

Hmart wants to introduce a wide variety of ethnic food products that is not offered in other supermarkets to its food shoppers and gain profit.

The Solution

Hmart Helper is an app that provides shopping assistance and food recipe suggestions for food shoppers at Hmart, an American chain operated by the Hanahreum Group. The app allows users to scan food items to gain information, search and save food recipes, and use shopping lists to find food items.

Hmart Helper Case Study | Product Description

Shio Ramen with Tempura

Spicy Seafood Ramen

Search

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Scan

Hmart Helper Case Study | Product Opportunities

E-commerce capabilities

Social Media sharing

Multicultural food selection

Marketing

Hmart Helper Case Study | Competitive Analysis

Trader Joe’sFairway StoresWhole Foods Market

Competitive Analysis

Hmart Helper Case Study | Competitive Analysis

Ethnic FoodAvailability

Non-ethnic food availability

Smartphone User Friendly

Customer Assistance

HmartFareways

Store

Trader Joe’s

WholefoodsMarket

Hmart Helper Case Study | User Research and Method

Of the many who were surveyed, 8 of them were interviewed. They were asked to describe their food shopping experience. They were also asked to walk through their food shopping in detail.

The Method

Hmart Helper Case Study | Project Findings

- Food shoppers buy food only when necessary, i.e. when there is no food in the fridge. - Food shoppers who enjoy cooking take time supermarkets to look for food items on their shopping list. - Food shoppers prefer to eat ethnic food in restaurants than to cook them because they do not want to invest time and energy in buying ingredients, preparing, and cooking ethnic meals.

Findings

Hmart Helper Case Study | Project Opportunities

Provide a convenient shopping experience for food shoppers when searching for ethnic food products based on bar code and recipes.

Opportunities identified

Hmart Helper Case Study | Opportunities Identified

Time-conscious shopping

Leisurely Shopping

Convenience

Utilize Effort

PrimaryPersona 4

Persona 3Persona 2

Persona 1

Secondary

Opportunities Identified :Food enthusiastsAdventurous eaters

Hmart Helper Case Study | Personas

Scenario:James find an amazing recipe for a ramen that he wants to make. He prints out the recipe and heads to his local Asian supermarket. On the way, however, James loses the paper and cannot retrieve the same recipe on his smartphone. He asks one of the supermarket employees and describes the dish that he wants to make, but because of language barrier, James could not get help. Instead, James goes on the supermarket app, finds the recipe, and checks the photos of the food items. He finds out which ones he needs, and puts them in the cart for check-out.

Scenario 2:James decides to go again at the Asian supermarket, James prints out the recipe, and he also saves the recipe in the website for extra measure. James is feeling confident as he picks up ramen noodle packet, but that feeling dissipates as he notices 9 different types of noodle. The problem also didn’t help that the packets were also written in Japanese. He then pulls out the supermarket app, and opens up saved recipes. The recipes that he saved from the website back at home was synced to his phone, so James didn’t have to print out recipes. As for which ramen noodle, James looks through the photos, and picked the right one (egg noodle). James walks over to the check-out.

James White (Age 26)

Title: Asian-Food fanaticOccupation: Ph.D Candidate for Linguistics at Columbia University

Likes: James enjoys reading Japanese history and cooking Japanese food, particularly ramen. James reads Japanese food blogs on his spare time.

Pain points and frustrations:- Map/location of the food products in the supermarket- Can’t read the labels because it’s written in foreign language

Wants:- Meal recipes saved/stored in electronic devices - Pictures of the food product and/or meals

“I love Asian food. I want to make them.”


Scenario:It’s 8:37pm on a Tuesday night, and Tiffany has just finished her big freelance work for Martha Stewart Magazine. She’s feeling hungry and thinks about what to cook. Tiffany doesn’t know what to make, but she definitely doesn’t want to eat stir-fried vegetables and rice again for the fourth night in a row. Right before she left, she went on Hmart website, and saved a recipe before she left her house. Tiffany heads over to her local Asian supermarket and looks for food to buy. At the supermarket, Tiffany opens up the supermarket app, uses the recipe check-off list that was already synced from her home computer. She collected her groceries, went to the check-out, and walked home to make her food.

Ting Ting Guo (Age 22)

Title: Passionate foodieOccupation: Illustrator/visual designer

Likes: Tiffany loves to draw in her sketchbook, browse through the internet for newest fashion trends, and cook Asian-style dishes (mainly Chinese). She spends a good portion of her time looking at cooking blogs/websites for dishes to prepare, go to specialty supermarkets to find the ingredients, and cook up the meals.

Pain points and frustrations:- Don’t know what to cook for dinner.- Wants to cook other dishes but does not want to make the effort to look for ingredients

Wants:- Food recipe recommendations- Meal suggestions based on food product

“I want to cook a variety of Chinese food dishes.”


Scenario:Eun-Jee wants to be the best mom for her two daughters, so she takes great care in food shopping and cooking healthy food for her children. She wants to search for fresh food, but Eun-Jee cannot spend too much time at the supermarket because either (1) her 2 daughters get restless at the supermarket and/or (2) she left her 2 daughters with their grandmother and needs to go back home as soon as possible. Eun-Jee is also on a budget, so she needs to find cheap food products without sacrificing the quality of the them. She also wishes there was a function that alerts her of sale prices instead of looking through them in the Korean newspapers. She opens up the hmart app, plans out her shopping throughout the week.

Eun-Jee Hwang (Age 35)

Title: Budget-conscious food consumerOccupation: Stay-at-home mom

Likes: Taking care of her two girls.

Pain points and frustrations:- Looking for high-quality food products for her girls on a tight budget. - Can’t spend time at a supermarket without leaving her girls at home.

Wants:- Someone or something to tell her when food stuff is one sale.- Wishes there was an easy way to schedule food grocery trips

“I want to feed my girls with the best meals without hurting my budget.”


Scenario:Hannah likes to eat home-cooked Korean food, but Hannah does not have time to invest so much in cooking because of her work schedule. She also does not want to spend too much time in a supermarket, searching for ingredients, and Hannah definitely does not want to wait in the lines. Instead, Hannah pulls out the supermarket app, pick a dish that she wants to pick, and uses the list to find the food. In this list, it shows the food products and the aisle number that these products are shelved in. At the end, Hannah finds all the food products, purchases them, and drives home.

Scenario 2:Hannah goes home with expensive Korean food that she bought at Korea Town in midtown. She enjoys the food, but feels guilty that she spent over $25 for a $9 meal. The following day, Hannah decides to make the dish herself, so she drives herself to the supermarket. Hannah pulls up the app, finds the groceries, and buys them at the check-out. Once she paid, the app alerts her: (1) how much she spent, (2) how much she saved from discount sales, and (3) how much she saved compared to buying the meal at a restaurant. Hannah likes how much money she is saving, so she drives home happily.

Hannah Wilson (Age 29)

Title: Time-efficient eaterOccupation: Real estate consultant

Likes: Anything but cooking.

Pain points and frustrations:- Don’t want to cook, but also don’t want to buy groceries because of time constraint- Don’t want to wait in lines

Wants:- Pre-made food for certain food dishes- Purchase food on-line and pick it up on the go.

“I just want food to be waiting for me on the table when I get home from work. Is that too much to ask for?”

Search bar to search for items

Carrier 12:49 PM

See More..

See More..

See More..

Napa CabbageFruits and Vegetables Aisle

$12.99

Sale Items

Featured Recipes

Suggested Recipes

Sale! $10.29

Shredded KimchiKorean side dishPrep time: 40 minDifficulty: Easy

Akamaru RamenJapanese noodles

See details..

See details..

Carrier 12:49 PM

See More..

See More..

See More..


$12.99

Saved Recipes

Recommended Recipes

Suggested Recipes

Sale! $10.29

Shredded KimchiKorean side dish

Prep time: 40 minDifficulty: Easy

Akamaru RamenJapanese noodles

Carrier 12:49 PM

Japanese Ramen

See More..Recommended Recipes

Ramen SoupJapanese noodle soup

Prep time: 40 minDifficulty: Medium

Japanese ramen cold

Japanese ramen recipes

Japanese ramen instant

Japanese ramen noodles recipes

See More..Recommended Recipes

Difficulty: MediumPrep time: 30 min

Japanese noodle soupAkamaru Ramen

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Hmart Helper Case Study | First Iteration

Food Item that lists information

A collection of recipes

More information provided

Auto-suggest from search bar

Carrier 12:49 PM Carrier 12:49 PM

See More..


$12.99

Seaweed and Laver

Sale! $10.29

Green-Tea Flavored SeaweedKorean side dish

Pocky SticksKorean snack

$5.69

See details..

See details..

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Hmart Helper Case Study | First Iteration

Scanner

Screen shot button of bar code

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Shopping cart

Add recipes into My Recipes

Usability Testing

Hmart Helper Case Study | Usability Testing

Conducted usability testing after building the wireframes. Specific tasks were created for the test users such as browse for a food product and add ingredients of one recipe into the shopping list to discover any mistakes or confusion.

Search Bar ScanBack

SettingListSavedHome


Japanese Spicy ramen

Search Bar ScanBack


Q W E R T Y U I O P

A S D F G H J K L

Z X C V B N M

space123 return

Japanese ramen


Japanese ramen noodle recipes

Japanese ramen akamaru

Search Bar ScanBack


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Hmart Helper Case Study | Second Iteration

Added more photos on browse1

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Added Setting into navigation bar

Enlarged photos for better view

Added title for each photo

Enlarge auto-suggest to full page


Japanese Spicy ramen

Search Bar ScanBack


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Hmart Helper Case Study | Second Iteration

1 Refined scanner and deletedcamera button.

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Enlarged photos for better view

Added favorites

Hmart Helper Case Study | User Flows

User Flows

Created user flows of the Hmart Helper app to find seamless ways to maneuver within the app. User flows were created


Spicy Seafood Ramen

Search

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Scan

Japanese Ramen soup

Kung Pow Chicken

Kimbab

Spicy Crab Noodle soup

Bulgogi

Samgulpsal

Search

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Ingredient Shopping List

3 cups chicken stock

2 cups water

4 tbsp soy sauce

375g ramen noodles

1/2 tsp Chinese five spice

4 tbsp soy sauce

375g ramen noodles


4 tbsp soy sauce

375g ramen noodles


SearchJapanese Ramen Soup Recipe

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Use Shopping List

Users can look through recipes on thehome page.

Users can access shopping lists fromthe Shopping List icon in the naviga-tion bar.

Specific shopping lists can be foundon the Ingredient Shopping List.

5.0 Shopping List1.0 Main Page 5.1 Specific Shopping List

Hmart Helper Case Study | Screen Flow Charts


Spicy Seafood Ramen

Search

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Scan


Main Dishes Recipes

Bread Recipes

Dessert Recipes

Breakfast & Brunch Recipes

Special Diet Recipes

Holiday Recipes

Ethnic Recipes

Q W E R T Y U I O P

A S D F G H J K L

Z X C V B N M

space123 return

Japanese RamenSearch

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Scan


Q W E R T Y U I O P

A S D F G H J K L

Z X C V B N M

space123 return

Japanese ramen info

Japanese ramen


Japanese ramen noodle recipes

Search

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Scan

Search for Recipes

User can browse through the recipeson the main page.

Users can find recipes through searchfrom the search bar. The app showscategories for users to search moreaccurately.

Search bar function provides searchresult predictions, so users can tap onthe desirable choice.

2.0 Main Search1.0 Main Page 2.0 Specific Search


Japanese Ramen SoupJapanese noodle soup dish that consistsof Chinese-style wheat see more...Prep time: 40 minDifficulty: Medium

Ingredients

4 tbsp soy sauce

375g ramen noodles


+Add all to list

SearchJapanese Ramen SoupPrep time: 40 minDifficulty: Medium

Ingredients

4 tbsp soy sauce

375g ramen noodles


Search

4 tbsp soy sauce

375g ramen noodles


4 tbsp soy sauce

375g ramen noodles


Add to shopping list

Japanese Ramen Soup

+Add all to list

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+Add all to list

+Add all to list

Search for Recipes (cont.)

From the search results, users canpick a recipe and read more detailedinformation on the recipe.

The recipe result can be scrolleddown to show the ingredient list thatcan be used as a shopping list.

2.2 Recipe List1.0 Main Page


Hold Steady...

Barcode will scan automatically.Try to avoid shadows and glare.


Spicy Seafood Ramen

Search

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Scan

Ethnic RecipesJapanese Ramen Noodle Soup

Japanese noodle soup dish that consistsof Chinese-style wheat noodles servedin a meat or fish-based broth, often fla-voted with soy sauce or miso, and usestoppings such as sliced pork, dried sea-weed, kamaboko, and green onions. Nearly every region in Japan has its ownvariation of ramen…see more.

Search for recipes


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Japanese Ramen Info

Scan Food Items

User can browse through the recipeson the main page.

Users can scan food items to get moreinformation about the food item.

The scan automatically loads the info-ration about the food item scanned. Italso provides a search for recipes forthat particular food item.

3.1 Scan 2.3 Scan Results1.0 Main Page


3 cups chicken stock

2 cups water

4 tbsp soy sauce

375g ramen noodles


4 tbsp soy sauce

375g ramen noodles


4 tbsp soy sauce

375g ramen noodles


Search

....

Japanese Ramen Soup Recipe

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Japanese Ramen SoupJapanese noodle soup dish that consistsof Chinese-style wheat see more...Prep time: 40 minDifficulty: Medium

Ingredients

4 tbsp soy sauce

375g ramen noodles


+Add all to list

....

Search

....

Japanese Ramen Soup

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Photo of the food recipe.

Information about the food recipe.

Food Recipe Photo

Description

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User can save the recipe for future use.

Users can add all the ingredients intoshopping list.

Heart

"+Add all to list" Function

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A list of recipe ingredients is provided, sothat users can utilize this feature as theyshop.

Food item ingredient is checked off andis in lighter grey color to note completion.

List of Recipe Ingredients

Ingredient item Check

18 Users can use the checkboxes to checkoff the ingredients that they find in the supermarket.

Checkbox

6.1 Shopping List

Hmart Helper Case Study | Key Screens and Features


Spicy Seafood Ramen

Search

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Scan

Hold Steady...

Barcode will scan automatically.Try to avoid shadows and glare.

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The Hmart supermarket logo is shownat the top left corner of the app.

Food items can be scanned here to knowmore information about them. Recipes canalso be retrieved.

Hmart Logo

Scan Bar

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Name of the food recipe is shown here.

Food recipe can be saved for later byclicking on the "Heart" icon.

Food Dish Title

"Heart" Icon

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Photo of the food recipe is shown here.

Home, Favorite Recipes, Shopping Lists,and Settings can be navigated from theNavigation Bar.

Food Item Photo

Navigation Bar

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Directions are on screen, so users canproperly use the food item scanner.

Indications are on screen, so users can align the barcode within the orange lines.

Scan Directions

Indications

9 Scanner reads the barcode in this areaand automatically loads results.

Barcode Box

1.0 Home Page 3.0 Scanner



Main Dishes Recipes

Bread Recipes

Dessert Recipes

Breakfast & Brunch Recipes

Special Diet Recipes

Holiday Recipes

Ethnic Recipes

Q W E R T Y U I O P

A S D F G H J K L

Z X C V B N M

space123 return


....

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Scan

Ethnic RecipesJapanese Ramen Noodle Soup

Japanese noodle soup dish that consistsof Chinese-style wheat noodles servedin a meat or fish-based broth, often fla-voted with soy sauce or miso, and usestoppings such as sliced pork, dried sea-weed, kamaboko, and green onions. Nearly every region in Japan has its ownvariation of ramen…see more.

Search for recipes

Japanese Ramen

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Search

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Japanese Ramen Info

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Food items can be searched in thesearch bar.

The Search Bar provides predictions, so that the user can stop typing midway and click on the desired search.

Search Bar

Search Bar Result Predictions

12 Food recipe can be entered in the searchbar by typing in the keyboard provided.

Keyboard

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Displays where the user is currently atin the app.

A photo and brief description of foodrecipe is provided.

Current Location

Food recipe photo and description

15 User is given the option to search forrecipes.

Search for Recipes

3.2 Food Recipe Info2.0 Search Bar


Date post:	10-May-2015
Category:	Self Improvement
Upload:	sylvee-lee
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Hmart Helper - Food Shopping Assistance App

Self Improvement