In a project to explore food preferences of Amazon Fresh users, my colleagues and I tackled the issue of varying freshness preferences for produce items that Amazon Fresh customers have.
What is a good banana?
While greener bananas are desired by some, others may prefer a riper banana
A Closer Look at Freshness Preferences
While ratings for produce are relatively high averaging at 4.5 stars, the Amazon Fresh team identified common complaints of being unable to meet the freshness preferences for users.
User Research
We conducted 6 interviews and 2 in depth contextual inquiry sessions on Amazon Fresh Users from several target locations including Washington DC, Boston, MA, and Charlotte, NC.
Themes
•Preference for online grocery shopping
•Desires personalization in shopping
•Busy family households
•Value-Seeking Shoppers
•Pandemic Conscious
Pain Points
•Hesitancy for buying perishable items
•Received unsatisfactory perishable items
•Sense of minimized personalization in online grocery shopping
What are Amazon Fresh Users Saying?
"Amazon Fresh is convenient for my grandparents who are older. I used it during the peak of the pandemic because I did not want to risk going out."
"Sometimes things like fruit is not as consistent with what I want"
"When online grocery shopping, I can't touch or see things and I have to go by pictures and comments. Sometimes it's not really what I want because pictures make things looks really good."
User Personas
The Freshness Scale
To serve the varying freshness preferences of each user and to personalize the Amazon Fresh shopping experience, our team created a freshness scale to be prompted for select produce items.
The Freshness Scale can be toggled on or off based on personal preference and needs.
When turned on, the scale can be directly manipulated by the user to select the desired freshness level of the product.
When certain freshness levels of a product are not offered, the user will only be able to select items available.
To further personalize the experience for users, they are given a customer approval response option when using the freshness scale. The user will be able to receive a picture of the exact product before delivery. After viewing the photo, the user can approve or reject the product based on their needs.
User Testing
We conducted 2 heuristic evaluations and 2 in depth contextual inquiry sessions on Amazon Fresh Users from several target locations including Washington DC, Boston, MA, and Charlotte, NC.
Interactive Prototype
