Sainsbury’s

SmartShop In-store shopping app trial

Create a fric1onless experience

Get the customer in, help them find what

they need, calculate the cost of their shop

and check out without queuing.

Be helpful

By providing tools that will help the

customer with their shop such as shopping

lists with real-@me pricing and loca@on.

Make it easy to use

Supermarkets tend to have clear signpos@ng

and the app experience was no different.

We needed to create a really simple tool

took away the stress of grocery shopping.

A faster way to shop

Plan, get in, scan items and get out.

Sainsbury’s wanted to take the pain away

of the tradi@onal shopping experience of

crowds and queues.

The Challenge

Sainsbury’s is playing catch up. While other supermarkets were busy rolling out digital services they were stuck in a world of what they knew best … and that’s not technology. Sainsbury’s management team wanted to fix that. To make a statement to show that they were modernising and wow their customers with what’s possible.

They wanted to remove the biggest irritant of a shopping trip, “Make it so a customer can shop, pay and leave without ever having to talk to another human being.”

T H E K E Y R E Q U I R E M E N T S

The Sainsbury’s solu@on begins at home. Customers can make lists, scan

items at home and check everything is available in their local store before

ever seMng foot outside their own kitchen.

In store you can scan each item, @ck off your list, see a running total of

what’s in your trolley and even get direc@ons to where items are located.

When you’re done. S@ll no need to talk to anyone. Press the “I’m done”

buNon, pay with a pre-saved credit card and walk out.

Don’t have a smart phone?

No problem, just pick up a SmartShop handset on your way in and all the

same func@onality is available to you in an intui@ve hand held device.

The solu1onH O W W E M E T T H E C H A L L E N G E

The teamA S M A L L T E A M M A K I N G B I G D I G I T A L S T R I D E S

Product owners

I worked with two product owners to ensure that the user experience was

mee@ng their requirements.

UI designer

I worked closely with a UI designer to

ensure that the user experience was

enhanced through the UI design.

UX designer

I was the sole UX designer on this

high-profile project.

Development team

Our team of three iOS, three Android and

two Windows developers as well as five

back-end developers. There was also a QA.

Wireframes

I produced wireframes for iOS and Android apps. I also did wires

for the devices available in store and a separate app for Sainsbury’s

colleagues so that they could help customers at check-out.

Stakeholder engagement

Given the high profile nature of the project, part of my role was

to take key stakeholders on the journey. We did this by involving

them at key stages to insure their input was taken into account.

My role was also to engage other teams that were implemen@ng

the new checkouts in-store so that we could produce a seamless

end-to-end experience.

Accessible design

Working with a copy writer, a designer and several developers to

produce a design that is accessible for people with learning difficul@es

the visually impaired and blind. With this in mind, it drove me to beNer

brief the other specialists I worked with to achieve a design for all.

Informa1on architecture

To say I like a challenge is an understatement! The IA on this project

was incredibly complex. The chosen in-store mechanism for customer

iden@fica@on was through Nectar card so various scenarios needed

to be considered. On top of that, the app needed to talk to in-store

check-out systems. Ask me more about this in person.

The processW H A T I D I D I N S I X M O N T H S

Mee1ng the Prime Minister

Prime Minister David Cameron visited Sainsbury’s digital hub

and I was asked to aNend and represent SmartShop which was

s@ll in development at the @me. It was an honour to be chosen to do so

which further highlights the effort put into engaging the wider team.

Engaging senior stakeholders

Given the high profile nature of the project, I had to help make sure senior

stakeholders were onboard with our solu@ons. As they were not apart of the

core Agile team, we involved them and the key members to Sprint demos

so they felt involved and part of the decision making process.

Engaging key members from other teams

This project had various touch-points and it was important to develop

rela@onships with key members of the in-store teams so that there was clear

and direct communica@on when we developed our app.

GE

TT

ING

KE

Y P

EO

PL

E I

NV

OLV

ED

Stak

ehol

der

enga

gem

ent

Site maps

I also did a full site map of the new app to create further clarity for senior stakeholders,

other teams that were developing the in-store infrastructure and developers that

were building the app on iOS and Android devices.

User flows

Given the scale of this project and the en@rely new infrastructure being built around it,

several complex scenarios needed to be worked through. How would the app talk

to the @lls in-store? How could colleagues perform rescans when needed?

How would a customer sign up? Here are just some of those flows answered.

MA

KIN

G S

EN

SE

OF

SO

ME

CO

MP

LE

X J

OU

RN

EY

S

Info

rma1

on

arch

itect

ure

The full site map

Site

map

Sainsbury’s Colleague app - Windows phone

I also worked on wires for an accompanying colleague app for Sainsbury’s staff members.

This gave them the ability to perform rescans and help people checkout successfully.

Sainsbury’s in-store handsets - Android

Smartshop would also have hand held devices so that people didn’t have to use

their personal phones. These would have a special posi@on on the trolley to ensure ease

of use. The customer could just log in to the handsets and scan or shop from their lists.

SmartShop app - iOS and Android

I created wireframes for Android L and iOS. There were slight varia@ons in the way

that features are shown which takes into considera@on expected user behaviour on

both pla]orms. The level of detail was necessary to ensure both front-end

and back-end developers had all their ques@ons answered.

PU

TT

ING

TH

E L

IFE

IN

TO

KE

Y R

EQ

UIR

EM

EN

TS

Wire

fram

es

In six months I did the user experience for an iOS app, an Android app,

an in-store app (Android) and a Sainsbury’s colleague app. Here are just

a few samples but if you’re interested, feel free to see more below.

WireframesD E S C R I P T I O N T E A M M E M B E R

iOS app

Android app In-store handsets

Working with accessibility in mind

It was important that the app be not only accessible to people with learning

disabili@es but also the visually impaired and blind. We made sure all the ac@ons

in the app were suitably tagged to accommodate VoiceOver (iOS)

and TalkBack (Android).

Working with a copywriter

Made me realise how important copy is to enhance the experience. I sat with

a copywriter to brief them on the wireframes and the tone of voice that we

we going for which was simple and friendly.

User tes1ng sessions

I sat in on several qualita@ve user tes@ng sessions and helped priori@se

feedback into future Sprints. Seeing users play with the app made for

invaluable insights which allowed us to improve the user experience.

US

ER

EX

PE

RIE

NC

E A

CR

OS

S M

AN

Y T

OU

CH

PO

INT

S

Acce

ssib

le

desi

gn

LaunchGeMng an app to talk to in-store technology is no mean

feat. Development took longer than expected so launch

was delayed un@l October 2015. The app launched in two

stores, Harpenden and Alperton and is now available in an

addi@onal eight stores.

“SmartShop App is so cool!! Another checkout

op@on available to make my life easier, making my

shopping journey shorter. Well done to the

crea@ve people at Sainsbury's..a UK first.”

Needs prices. Brilliant barcode scanner, but desperately

needs access to online database of prices and

special offers. I use mySupermarket a lot and it has

pricing, this needs it too, to be genuinely useful

as anything more than an alterna@ve to the handheld

scanners found in-store.

R E A L F E E D B A C K F R O M C U S T O M E R S

Here’s what people said

Rizwan Aslam 1 March 2016

O N B A C K - E N D L I M I T A T I O N SO N S I M P L I C I T Y

Alex Richards 30 March 2016

Wing Yau 26 March 2016

On trial in 2 stores, wait pa@ently and it will be

rolled out to all stores Fantas@c. The possibili@es

are endless! I live near 1 of the 2 stores who are

trialling it and had all the features explained to me.

Sounds amazing! BeNer than Tesco. Especially love

that you can use the handset or your phone, and

you can make a personal shopping list based on

your shopping or by scanning stuff in your fridge!

People going nuts over it not being available in

your local store - be pa@ent, it will happen. There

were 2 stores chosen to trial the system first.

Other stores will get it soon.

More reviews

Simple, easy and very intui@ve. This ini@al itera@on

is a fantas@c start and makes planning and then

carrying out the shop in store so simple!

Rubbish. Only two stores to choose from, is that

how many stores that Sainsbury have?

S O M E G O O D , S O M E C O N S T R U C T I V E ,

O T H E R S N O T S O M U C H

Sarah Adderley 8 September 2016

Gurdip Clare 8 March 2016

O N E A S E A N D C H O I C E

O N E A S E O F U S E

O N E X C L U S I O N

“Sarah puts her heart into everything she does, from start to

finish. She is genuinely interested in all things around UX and is both passionate and professional about her work.

Sarah never stops and always wants to look deeper into the

product. This is evident in how she lives and breathes her work.

She is the ul@mate collaborator and team player also great at

helping bring teams together, offering to help and work beyond her responsibili@es.

Sarah is fast, bright and a pleasure to work with. She would be a great asset to any team and they would be lucky to have her.”

Luke Simmons Digital Product Owner - E-Commerce Apps at Sainsbury's

“Sarah’s posi@ve aMtude despite the high pressure of delivery

meant she quickly became one of the family. Her collabora@ve

approach and open-mindedness to the opinions of others was reflected in her work, which was both well informed and widely

communicated. An asset to the team!”

Lulu Borrough User Experience Lead at Sainsbury's