Wild Duck

PROJECT OVERVIEW

The Wild Duck Wine & Spirits is a local brick and mortar liquor store that specializes in fine wine, spirits, and craft beer in the Boston area for over a decade. Though a store website exists, it doesn’t offer online purchases.

This was a conceptual project to design an e-commerce section adding to the current website that would offer the customers a seamless and streamlined shopping experience.

BASICS

• Duration: 2 weeks

• Team: Solo

• My Role: Research, Interview, Design and Usability Testing

• Deliverables: Digital Interactive Prototype

• Tools: Axure, Photoshop

STORE VISIT

The very first step I took for this project was to visit the store. My goals were to experience its dynamic in person, browse the products and gauge customers demographics. I was able to talk to one of the employees and below are some key findings:

• The store is well organized and tidy.

• Wines are prioritized in displaying.

• The store offers phone-order for deliveries.

• Each customer spends 5-10 mins per visit.

• Customers age range: 25-60, gender split even.

SURVEYS

I sent out surveys to inspect the target users’ demographics, their alcohol buying habits and receptiveness to alcohol online shopping:

• Most are in their 20s and 30s

• Most buy alcohol on a regular basis

• Most would be willing to purchase alcohol online

INTERVIEWS

With 10 responses from the survey, I conducted interviews with 5 of them and was able to distill down to three major insights:

• Most participants are efficient with buying merchandises online, and do so on a regular basis.

• Most participants want to have a seamless and quick online shopping experience.

• The majority of participants usually don’t like reading notes but would appreciate good visuals.

COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS

I analyzed 4 other competitors’ sites that provide online purchases and here are what I found:

• There were a few features that they all had, including search functionality, featured items and customer reviews.

• But only half has customers’ recommendations.

• And majority neglect to promote sales and discounts.

PROBLEM

With the research findings and insights from user interviews, I structured a problem space that capsulated the major pain point to solve:

Users with busy life style need an online liquor store that allows quick and hassle-free alcohol purchase experience to avoid the disappointing and tiring time at the store.

SOLUTION

I decided to implement all of the mentioned features. I also wanted to put more focus on creating an efficient filter function as well as providing informative graphics for better browsing and searching experiences.

I took a step further to set Wild Duck apart from the competitors by creating the “Sommelier” feature that recommends products based on customers’ needs and preferences.

INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE

I utilize open card sorting method to categorize the main types and subtypes of the products.

A Site Map for the product categories was created based upon the result of 5 testings.

SKETCH

Hinging from the generated user flows and the research analysis, I digitally sketched the rough layouts of how I wanted the home page and the main product pages to look.

USABILITY TESTING

I conducted total of 6 usability tests across 5 versions of the low-fi prototypes. Each round provided major insights and valuable feedback. The following images are the main roadblocks that the users encountered and the comments that I received

Product Screens Iteration

• I decided to expand the filter menu permanently because the difficulties that users encountered were consistent, and also by expanding it, it will separate it from the common mixed-up between sorting and filtering.

• The sub-menu was also moved closer to the product grid to clarify and differentiate it from the breadcrumbs that were formerly above.

Shopping Information Screens Iteration

• Based on consistent comments from testings, I shrunk down the “Order Summary” panel to prioritize the form on the left size

• I also unbold the title of the sequential steps in the form because a few users were confused that they were clickable links.

TAKEAWAYS

• I learned to efficiently manage my time. I created a mechanism and a system to keep myself on track and stay focus for the duration of a solo project.

• I gained more insights and more confidence in interviewing users, especially developed the method to be able to conduct effective and insightful conversation with users and collect valuable information.

© Jason Ma