ASDA/ Walmart

Project goal/ Challenge:

With eCommerce activities growing in the UK with their online and mobile channels, the client (US based team) developed an additional shopping list feature on their Android shopping app to extend their multichannel capabilities. They wanted to validate the usability and check that customer needs were met.

RedEye project team recommended conducting contextual usability testing in-store, with 12 participants over 2 days. That allowed users to simulate a shopping journey on the shop floor using the new feature in the app.

Outcome/ Impact:

With the key findings from this piece of research, the client team reiterated the app. This contributed to an increase in their multichannel sales by 18.8% over the fourth quarter.

Approach:

2 day in-store contextual research
Prototype app supplied by client
Locally sourced Android phones
In-store dry run sessions prior to 2 day research
1.5hour 2 part testing: pre-shop floor list making; shopping experience

Team:

Lead moderator
Assistant moderator
Cameraman
IT support
Project Coordinator
UK based client coordinator
US based clients’ app development team
US based client leads

My role:

Co-moderator, Participant recruitment liaison, Project coordination

Participant recruitment

Having agreed to the recruitment participant profiles with the client, I liaised with the 3rd party recruitment agents to agree on participant profiles and screener. These were signed off by the client before recruitment took place.

Client/ Location coordination

I coordinated with the client’s UK-based contact to organise the ASDA/ Walmart branch we eventually tested in, and agreed with the store manager on the days and times testing were carried out. We also arranged a room for the project team (including the client) to meet and debrief after each session/ day. It was also where the IT support and camera person downloaded the video shots for analysis.

Usability testing script

The usability testing script was written with two parts to the test session. First simulated users inputting items they would like to get during their shop at the supermarket. The second simulated using the app on the shop floor as they carried out their shopping.

Key findings:

Although the new shopping list feature itself contained multiple useful functions, there was a general questioning amongst participants on the need of a shopping list with a built in total spend calculator.

ASDA usability testing findings and recommendations 1

Deliverables:

Full report containing severity ratings table & recommendations
Mockups of recommendations included in report
Full set of video footages output from Morae recordings

Due to the nature of the one-off contextual study consultation, we can broadly predict the business outcomes. The metrics would be much more solid if research data from various channels were utilised. The business would have benefited from approaching feature development with leaner and faster iterative tests before code were made.

In retrospect, a more effective approach to conducting research would have been to adopt a fully customer-centric methodology, blending contextual inquiry, usability testing, and survey analysis to uncover key friction points in ASDA/Walmart’s digital and physical retail experiences. Observing customers in their natural shopping environments, alongside structured usability tests, would have provided deeper insights into task completion efficiency and navigational challenges. This mixed-methods approach would have allowed for a more comprehensive understanding of user needs, leading to targeted recommendations that improved customer engagement across multiple touchpoints.