Grobby

In a nutshell -

The problem Local shopping in Mumbai has stagnated over the past couple of years because (in comparison to e-groceries), they are inaccessible and unpredictable. Customers are hesitant to go out to local stores because they have no idea if they will find what they need.

The design opportunity How might we enable local grocery stores to create and maintain discoverable inventories, so that we encourage local grocery shopping?

The solution grobby is a digital platform that facilitates neighborhood grocery networks. It allows shopkeepers & street vendors to maintain discoverable inventories so that customers know exactly what is available around them, and where.

Responsibilities Research (Primary & Secondary), Ideation, Prototyping

Duration 20 weeks part-time / Oct ‘20 - Feb ‘21

Tools Sketch, Figma, Principle

Backstory

In the suburbs of Mumbai, almost every neighborhood has a network of small scale grocery shops. The one that I grew up in had 4, and I would frequent these shops quite often. I had made pleasant friendships with the shopkeepers and silent connections with other loyal customers.

Over the years, I would wonder why I didn’t see any new faces in these shops. Why did I always see the same people? Are these shops not growing?

My best guess was that the advent of e-groceries and hyperlocal delivery services could have something to do with plateaud local shopping - but I wasn’t sure.

I wondered what challenges local shopkeepers might be facing in trying to grow their businesses.

Nieghborhood in Mumbai, India

Local Shops

I began my desk research by studying the daily life of a shopkeeper. I looked into reports compiled by Ernst & Young and Accenture to find answers to the following questions:

1. What is a shopkeeper’s daily routine?

2. What are the typical tasks that a shopkeeper has to perform each day?

3. What are the challenges that a shopkeeper encounters while performing these tasks?

I created a journey map to highlight a shopkeeper’s routine, tasks and challenges.

The daily life of a local shopkeeper

Next, I wanted to understand all of the relationships that a shopkeeper has to develop and maintain in order to sustain his/her/their shop.

I created an ecosystem map with the shopkeeper at the center. I mapped all the other stakeholders at different degrees of closeness to the shopkeeper based on frequency of connect and importance.

For example, consumers are the closest because they are most important to the sustenance of a local shop.

Local shop relationship ecosystem

I also investigated the degree to which each relationship exists on a digital plane: have these stakeholders adopted digital technologies?

While many startups already exist on the digital plane, I found that all the other stakeholders are tending towards it, at varying speeds of adoption.

Takeaways

1. Shops are not adopting digital technologies as quickly as their stakeholders

All of the relevant stakeholders in the context of a local shop have adopted digital technologies for payments and communication, among other things. Local shops have not been as quick because while shopkeepers are willing to adopt them, most available technologies have a significant learning curve.

2. Most shopkeepers rely on loyalty, but loyalty is not scalable

Local shops rely a lot on loyalty - almost all of their business comes from long time customers. They are able to serve these long time customers by offering monthly credit accounts, as well as free home delivery. However, this approach is not scalable. Shopkeepers don’t know how to attract and retain new customers, without which they are unable to grow.

I wanted to dive deeper into the relationship a shopkeeper has with a customer. What is it about the local shopping experience that inspires loyalty among customers?

Local Shoppers

I recruited a few (20) local-shopping friends and family and tried to understand their local shopping experiences. I wanted to find answers to the following questions:

1. What is a customer’s shopping routine?

2. What are the typical tasks that a customer has to perform while shopping locally?

3. What are the challenges that a customer encounters while performing these tasks?

I created a journey map to highlight a customer’s routine, tasks and challenges.

The daily life of a local shopper

Next, I proceeded to understand their motivations as well as reservations behind shopping locally.

1. Why do customers like to shop locally?

2. What is it about the local shops that they might change?

Takeaways

1. Most customers enjoy shopping locally when they are sure about finding what they need

Customers experience a lot of frustration when they don’t find what they are looking for. They tend to limit their options to the items they are extremely confident about finding, or even call the shopkeepers to check before visiting.

2. Most customers prefer to make the trip to the shops themselves over home deliveries

Most long time customers tend to visit the local shops themselves instead of opting for home deliveries because they enjoy all the things that come along with it: the walk, the interactions, etc.

Through desk research, I learned that local shops rely heavily on customer loyalty but are unable to attract new customers.

Through qualitative research, I learned that local shoppers enjoy shopping locally as long as they are confident about finding what they need.

Synthesis

Discoverable and accessible inventories are helpful for customers and shopkeepers

For shoppers:
Not knowing what is available around them makes it difficult to create grocery lists
For shopkeepers:
A customer who doesn’t know what a store has to offer, is a customer lost

Communicating and identifying demand is helpful for customers and shopkeepers

For shoppers:
Not being able to communicate what they want beforehand leads to inefficienct grocery trips
For shopkeepers:
Not knowing what customers want creates a mismatch of expectations that drives business away

Design Opportunity How might we enable local grocery stores to maintain a discoverable inventory, so that we retain, encourage and simplify local grocery shopping?

After concluding the research phase with a design statement that I was happy with, I moved on to the ideation phase.

Full disclosure, at this point I already had an idea for a solution in my head.

As tempted as I was to dive in and flesh it out, I took a step back to do a quick storyboarding session with a few shopkeepers and shoppers to validate what I had in mind.

This is also when I began referring to the product as grobby (grocery+buy). That name stuck.

Storyboard

Shared local grocery database

Using grobby, grocery storeowners can easily upload their products online, creating a shared database of all the groceries available in a neighborhood.

Contextualised actionable lists

Grocery shoppers can create lists using only the products available around them.

Simultaneous enquiries

Local stores/vendors are not equipped for real time inventory management. They are used to being asked if they have something, in order to find out if they do.

Using grobby, the shopper can share his list with the stores/vendors around him, allowing them to match the items and respond with availability.

Simultaneuous Orders

After the list has been matched by the strores, grobby helps the shopper pick the place(s) where he can place the order(s) such that all of the items on his list are covered.

Organised shopping route

The shopper then places his order, and enjoys a nice walk to bring home his groceries.

The participants of the storyboarding session responded well to this sequence of events, with the concept of having simultaneous enquiries being a favourite across the board.

The next step was to define the user flows for the grobby app, for both shopkeepers as well as shoppers.

User Flows

I fleshed out the different flows for the prototype using high fidelity wireframes.

Customer Wireframe Flow

Shopkeeper Wireframe Flow

grobby

grobby is an app that facilitates neighborhood grocery networks, thereby encouraging local shopping.

It allows shopkeepers to maintain discoverable inventories so that customers know and buy exactly what is available around them, and where.

Customer Create your grocery list You create a list only using items that are available around you. Why should you set yourself up for disappointment?

Customer Share your grocery list After you have filled up your list with the items available around you, you share it with all the grocery stores in your area.

Customer Wait for your list to be matched The shopkeepers with your list have 5 minutes to match the items they have, in what quantities and at what cost (this is their opportunity to give spot discounts).

Customer Pick the stores Once your list is matched, you simply go through all the items one by one, and pick the stores you want to buy them from.

Customer Place your order You have access to individual store wise cost breakdowns from the ones that you have selected. You browse through these, make sure everything is all set, and then place your order.

Customer Track your order The store(s) accept your order and inform you when your groceries are ready to be collected.

You then head out, knowing exactly where you have to go, and exactly what you are going to return home with.

Shopkeeper Create a store Shopkeepers use grobby to upload all their products online. A shared database means they can simply toggle on/off the products that other shopkeepers have already uploaded.

If a product does not exist in the database, they can simply take a photo of the product, enter a few simple details and add it to their store.

Shopkeeper Match incoming grocery lists Once a shopkeeper receives a list, they habe 5 minutes to match all the items on that list along with available stock and the cost per unit.

This is an opportunity for the shopkeeper to offer spot discounts.

Shopkeeper Accept & prepare orders When a shopkeeper receives an order, they can quickly scan the items that have been shortlisted by the customer, and confirm the order.

As soon as all the items have been set aside, the shopkeeper updates the status of the order as ready to be collected.