*some aspects might be out of date. written in 2022. 

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Haha, gotcha! You thought this was going to be some boring tech article. It's actually an op-ed about user experience, from someone on the lowest rung of the totem pole. That's right, I work at Whole Foods. Most days you'll catch me doing a mildly concerning interpretive dance between self-checkout and customer service. If you're lucky, you'll have me as your cashier ;) In any case, I am constantly helping people.

 

Working at Whole Foods since the Amazon acquisition has been *interesting* to say the least. But let's not get political. I'll try to remain on topic. 

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Amazon is known for being on the cutting edge of technology. Pushing the bounds of productivity, the company is always looking to do things better, faster, stronger. If you're following the Daft Punk reference, we're missing one word. "Harder." Sometimes forcing technology into tried and true arenas like grocery markets creates unnecessary friction. Things that used to be simple end up being harder. The Amazon Shopping App is a prime (lol) example of this at Whole Foods. The app needs a major makeover. If customer-obsession drives Amazon as much as they claim, they'd do well to make their app more user-friendly.

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EXAMPLE 1: WHERE'S MY DISCOUNT?

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Customers who pay for Amazon Prime (the majority of Whole Foods' clientele) have access to additional discounts and special sales. The main way to obtain the discount is via the Amazon Shopping App. The home screen of the app shows a tab for "groceries" which leads to Whole Foods. However...the discount code is not found in the Whole Foods section. It's actually under the "in-store code" tab.

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These three images show the pathway that populates when the "Groceries" tab (boxed in red) is selected. No QR code to be found!

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                                                     Here's the pesky bugger! Not to mention this screen won't load if                                                               there's bad cell-service. My advice would be to make it easier to find,                                                         and add an offline option.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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EXAMPLE 2: HOW THE HECK DO I CONFIRM MY AMAZON RETURN?

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The second issue we run into on a daily basis has to do with Amazon returns. My Whole Foods location is a drop-off hub. This means customers can bring in their package and we return it, free of charge! There's only one catch. The customer must process the return on their end and show us the associated QR code. When people have problems completing their return, it's almost always because of this confusing final step:

 

 

                                                           This screen grab shows the last step of the Amazon returns                                                                           process. All the customer has do do is select their drop off                                                                             location and click the yellow button to 'Confirm their return.' So                                                              why can't they click confirm? 

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                                                          This sub-selection WITHIN the Whole Foods box must be made, or                                                            the confirm button will not work. We have about 3-10 customers                                                                a day who did not see the sub-selection in blue fine print.                                                                              They are bewildered as to why they can't complete their return.                                                                  Amazon needs to put the drop-off location as its own section of                                                                  the pathway. Alternatively, they could make the font much                                                                            bigger and flashier.

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I could name several other issues with the Amazon Shopping App. Essentially, it is too cluttered. It is not friendly for disabled, elderly, or near-blind customers. The pathways are not as intuitive as they need to be for the average person.

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One thing I love about my job is that I get to attack these issues head on. Never underestimate the intelligence of a retail worker, or anyone on the ground floor of any company for that matter. User-experience is created from the top down. But it is accomplished from the bottom up. Companies like Amazon should seek concrete feedback about technology systems from people who work directly with customers every day. We know what people want, what they need, and what makes them happy. More dog-fooding and synergy between tech and customer-facing workers is necessary to improve user-experience. It's great to help people figure it out, but it's even better when the problem doesn't exist in the first place.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

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