Design Dive

Analyzing the AI Revolution in E-Grocery Shopping

Startappz

Startappz

— 3 min read

Introduction

The value of competitive Analysis is to address all the potential competitors from the features and how they deliver this service to the end users from an experience perspective, especially in my area, concerning user interaction UI/UX.

All e-grocery apps have a similarity to the features list. All the investment goes to offer variety, price/offers, recommendations, and delivery options with different payment methods.

Many grocery apps currently use a product-centered design, needing an opportunity to create a more engaging and personalized user experience beyond simply fulfilling orders. By adopting a user-centered design approach and focusing on user stories and journeys, grocery apps can offer new and innovative shopping experiences that move beyond the traditional category and item displays commonly found in physical stores.

This analysis aims at the apps that integrate AI and intelligent carts into their e-grocery apps and how they use it from the functionality and experience sides.

I had four factors to identify my criteria.

  1. AI/ machine learning that shaped the recommendations/ related products in e-grocery apps.
  2. E-grocery list app from experiences.
  3. Intelligent Search beyond the auto-complete feature.
  4. Support and assist in the whole e-grocery journey experience.

I divided the competitors list into two divisions:

  • E- grocery shop
  • E-grocery list

And this happened to distinguish the competitors between the features and the experience.

E- Grocery shop:

  1. Instacart
  2. Instashope
  3. Talabat
  4. Amazon Fresh
  5. Shipt
  6. Nana
  7. Carrefour
  8. Trolley
  9. Walmart Grocery

E- Grocery List:

  1. AnyList
  2. List Ease
  3. ChefTap
  4. Mealime
  5. Grocery
  6. OurGroceries
  7. Yummly

The E-Grocery apps have shared the same functionality with differences in quality, delivery, and variety, and these features are as follows:

  1. Wide selection (variety of products/ brands)
  2. Delivery/Tracking (instant, schedule).
  3. Real-time chat with the shopper.
  4. Different payment methods.
  5. History/ list reorder.
  6. Recommended products.
  7. Offers/ discounts.
  8. Points (loyalty programs).
  9. Notification system (alerts, tracking, promotions, etc.).
  10. Search system.
  11. Smart cart (edit, add, remove items).

These are the most common features that follow in this domain. Moreover, all of them have the same pattern of experience and structure, which also these apps are considered user-friendly and easy to navigate.

In addition to the above, some apps have started using AI/ ML in many areas, like personalizing and recommending offers, warehouse management, and optimizing logistics.

The E-Grocery List apps:

  1. Instantly share lists with family members.
  2. Groceries are automatically organized into categories.
  3. Order groceries online through the app.
  4. Meal planning, recipes, and grocery lists all in one.
  5. Shared family grocery list.
  6. Ingredients get automatically added to your shopping list.
  7. Generate a price summary before you head to the store.

The theme of these apps is to approach the user stories before starting the journey through the typical e-grocery apps, and these stories are like preparing a meal, searching for missing Ingredients, and searching for needed products for the household to order.

My findings:

The hybrid solution between the traditional e-grocery apps and the list e-grocery apps should cover both pains to assist the user before and after ordering the needed grocery, to be like an assistant for the household and they will be in:

Smart Search crosses all e-grocery apps to find the best:

  • Price.
  • Brand.
  • Delivery.
  • Alternatives.

Search system:

  • Search by chat-like.
  • Search by NLP (Natural Language Processing)
  • Autocomplete search.
  • Search by Scan Items.
  • Smart search system using AI to analyze your consumption

Create a shopping list (shopping based on a list rather than catalog experience):

  • Shop by Meal.
  • Shop by Ingredients.

Budgeting system:

  • Track expenses and manage them.
  • Suggest alternative items according to your budget.
  • Categorize budget

Recipes:

  • Recipes/ ingredients with video tutorials.
  • Wide variety of cuisines
  • Suggest/recommend items for meals.

Complete the order via the app using the check-out for the third parties (grocery apps that serve in the covered area):

  • Instant delivery.
  • Schedule delivery.

Generate a price summary before you head to the check-out comparison between:

  • The price.
  • Delivery time.
  • Similarity.

Notification system

  • Reminder/ adding of the missing items
  • Budgeting notification
  • Consuming notifications
  • Smart meal Suggestion
  • Tracking behavior/ cooking

Share shopping lists

  • Create a Group chat.
  • Family account.

Customization:

  • Ability to select items and define quantity, size, and usage. Etc.
  • Add.
  • Edit.
  • Remove.

Source: https://medium.com/design-bootcamp/analyzing-the-ai-revolution-in-e-grocery-shopping-eea9135e5638

Read more