WALMART REDESIGN
ROLE
Facilitator, Note Taker, Designer
TIMELINE
November 2021 - December 2021
RESOURCES
Figma
TEAM
Lara Canonizado, Samuel Fleet, Michele Murakami
BACKGROUND
My teammates and I chose a mobile site to evaluate and later redesign a component of the website that was deemed to be insufficient.
PROBLEM STATEMENT
Walmart needs to revise the registry workflow to prevent consumers from utilizing competing registry creators and to minimize usability issues on the mobile site.
INITIAL USER TESTING
Prior to establishing our problem, my team and I conducted 4 user tests of the Walmart mobile site to evaluate what components could be improved. Within this user testing we asked about our participants’ experience with the website and their shopping habits.
We then asked our participants to partake in tasks such as:
finding and purchasing a specific product
use the gift finder feature
use the sort and filter feature for product item ratings
create a registry and add items to it
After analyzing our results, we found several usability issues but the most prominent and frequent issue was that most participants experienced some kind of confusion or did not accurately complete the task of creating and adding items to a registry.
PARTICIPANT 1
When initially looking at the baby registry section, Participant 1 did not know where to find things to add to the registry. This participant wanted to sort items by types of object, so they would just click on random categories until they found items to add. When they finally found items, they clicked the “add” button and assumed the item was not in the registry.
PARTICIPANT 2
Participant 2 over looked the top portion of the baby registry section and instead scrolled down to find the categories for baby products. Not only did this participant miss the step of actually creating a registry, but they also assumed the “add” button added items to a registry.
PARTICIPANT 3
After creating their registry, Participant 3 was led to the page with their blank baby registry, and was instructed to use the search bar to find items to add. When searching for items, the participant did not notice the number text to the shopping cart symbol go up as they clicked the “add” button, meaning they were mislead.
PARTICIPANT 4
Participant 4 did not have a problem doing the given task, but commented on how the process of creating a registry required too much information and the images and other information on the page was very cluttered.
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
For our competitive analysis, we decided to compare Walmart’s baby registry to Target, Baby List, and Crate and Barrel’s registries. Amongst the 4 competitors, we established that Target and Baby List had the best designs for the registry section.
IDEATION
Each of my teammates and I focused on creating our own individual ideas for solutions. For my ideas, the first sketch solves the issue by having a separate search function for registries and a general search for the entire Walmart website. My second sketch involved creating a section on the top portion of the mobile website that holds different groups, or registries, that users may want to put items in. Once a user finds something the want or like, they would drag the item into these groups similar to dragging files to a folder on a laptop.
SKETCH 1
SKETCH 2
PROTOTYPES
PROTOTYPE 1
Involves my idea of having a separate search bar for the registry section
Has clear separate buttons for adding an item to your registry or shopping cart
PROTOTYPE 2
Buttons in the top right corner to indicate different modes
Modes change the primary button function to either add things to a cart or registry
Focused more on the suggestions section to help users choose what they need/want
EVALUATION OF NEW SOLUTIONS
To test if our final prototypes showed effective ways of minimizing the confusion of Walmart’s registry workflow, we had done a second user testing involving 4 new users. This round of testing led us to acknowledge the following strengths and weaknesses of each idea.
PROTOTYPE 1
STRENGTHS
Users enjoyed the “add items” button in the registry because it assured them that the items they added would be in the place they wanted
Users thought the two different icons were relatively intuitive and had no issues with the process of adding to their registry throughout he general search
Buttons such as the ‘delete’ icon are straightforward and visible, makingit easy to use
WEAKNESSES
The registry and help buttons were grayed out, making users unsure if they are clickable or not
There was confusion with the name of the registry, since it’s unsure if the name is the parent’s or the baby
PROTOTYPE 2
STRENGTHS
Users liked the guide to get started for inspiration before performing their own searches
Users appreciated the ‘help’ section to also provide recommendations for items and to guide their own searching
WEAKNESSES
The registry and cart buttons were confusing to use; some participants commented that not everyone would create a registry, so it should not be part of the main website header
It was hard to users to tell if they were adding items to the cart or the registry; users have commented that they were not used to clicking on the “modes” then adding this to their respective list (shopping or registry)
LESSONS LEARNED
Prototype 1’s workflow was favored upon users, therefore proving our rationale still holds for this redesign
Components being greyed out can be mistaken for being restricted rather than simply not in use
Incorporating “modes” like in Prototype 2 did not make adding things to a registry easier
Including multiple suggestions in feasible groups was another valued and praised decision within the redesign