Remember Your Grocery Bags
An app that notifies you to bring your bags on store arrival and aims to eliminate single-use plastic bags for good.
About this Project | My Role
As much as we try to remember reusable grocery bags every time we shop, they often get left behind in the car or at home. My role was to identify the opportunity and develop a way for people to bring their grocery bags consistently, while being part of a broader effort to eliminate single-use plastic bags for good – believing small individual actions can make a big difference.
Summary
It’s no secret plastic bag usage worldwide continues to have a devastating impact on our environment. There has been a shift toward using paper, ideally, people bringing their own reusable bags. But why aren’t people using them consistently? The intention to use them is there, but the action can fall short.
User research confirmed people have usable bags somewhere — at home, in their car, but forget them. In particular, inconsistency comes when they go to a store out of their normal routine or geographic area. Another factor is when a store still uses plastic bags – it’s too easy to leave your own bags behind. Some locations have begun to ban them completely, but until they are banned everywhere, we could work toward solving the problem of helping people remember to bring their grocery bags shopping.
Our solution was a reminder app to bring your bags as soon as you arrived at a grocery store. We would create a name and brand for the product and gamify the levels of impact they were making to “unplastic”. Stores also receive a rating for their bagging methods. The dashboard stats are encouraged to be shared to inspire others toward the broader goal of eliminating all single-use plastic bags for good.
Scope of Work
Research
Research consisted of a contextual inquiry speaking with customers and staff in two differing stores – one that does not supply any bags (Aldi) and customers are conditioned to bring their own, the other uses single-use plastic bags as their go-to (Harris Teeter). In person interviews were conducted with participants who try to bring their bags grocery shopping. A survey was also conducted to see information from a larger group. This helped me understand the behaviors, frustrations, and unmet needs when people try to remember their reusable bags.
Patterns that emerged: Majority of people have bags in their car or on the way out of the house with extras in several places. Shopping in a routine at the same place reinforces and triggers remembering to bring bags. The specific store, or city ban on the bags initiates the behavior. Places like Costco, Aldi have not had plastic for years, so people are in the habit of bringing bags or taking loose ones to the car. If people end up resorting to paper or plastic, they will reuse or recycle.
Their pain points revealed: They usually forget bags when they do unplanned shopping out of their regular routine and store. Seeing a store still using single-use plastic bags is discouraging. Users wonder how much of a difference they are really making so skipping bringing their own isn’t important. They are skeptical about the store actually recycling when they bring them back.
Surprises: People will roll out the loose groceries in the cart out to their car and pack the food there. Some people will intentionally get paper or plastic so they can use it for other purposes. In the middle of this project, NYC announced they are banning all single use plastic bags.
This shopper in Aldi was excited about his bag from France, but would love a reminder to bring it when he gets to the store.
Instagram.
There’s an opportunity to let people know their small actions really do add up to positive change in the world.
Strategy
From the research data gathered, an empathy map was built. From there, a persona was developed to capture the main user group. Sarah is a professional who works remotely and is her family’s prime grocery shopper. Her track record with using reusable bags is pretty good, but she’s not consistent, especially if she’s out her normal routine. She wants to get better about it and feels like she’s making a difference in the big picture of sustainability.
Digging further into what motivates Sarah, we could understand her goals and needs. We found she was not remembering her bag every single time she grocery shopped and she was also frustrated that store is still using plastic bags as key pain points from our research. So, we focused on two flows: 1. have Sarah remember her bags and share her impact on social media. 2. have Sarah add a new store and share her impact on social media.
Interaction Design
Based on our research findings, people do not consistently remember their bags, especially when they’re out of their normal routine. Additional findings confirm people feel like when they don't regularly bring their bags, it doesn't make much of a difference in the big picture of sustainability. We focused our design on key areas:
The primary feature is a phone notification as soon as they arrive at the grocery store so they can grab their bags.
Allow users to add a new store easily, increasing the shopping trips they remember and ultimately increase their “unplastic” rating.
Gamification element moves the user through the unplastic rating system with a sharing CTA that drives awareness to create big changes at the store level.
A series of crazy eights led to a loose storyboard which was sketched out, then built into low-fidelity wireframes in XD to mirror the user flows.
The wireframes were then used to create a prototype for usability testing. The tasks were: 1. Remember your bags and share your stats to your Facebook. 2. Add a new store and share your stats to your Facebook.
Interface Design
Based on research, the interface of the app needed to be quick, easy and useful. Equally important, the visual treatment is whimsical and allows users to see their immediate progress visually. The carrot rating system is meant to be lighthearted and fun. Users are motivated to do better on the carrot scale through their performance and then inspire others.
Prototype & Test
After the initial set of UI designs for the pages of the primary users flows were developed, these were joined in a high-fidelity prototype built in XD. The intention of this first prototype was a means to generate as much learning as possible and evaluate choices around a visual design, usability, and branding.
User Testing
Objective: 1. Remember your bags and share your stats to your Facebook. 2. Add a new store and share your stats to your Facebook. We also accounted for a decisions where they did not remember bags and if they wanted to see a store’s progress.
Participants: the prototype was tested with 4 participants. The criteria was all of them try to remember to bring their bags when they go grocery shopping.
Results: the prototype received a very positive response to the UI and tested great on usability for all the users completed the tasks without difficulty. We identified a few areas to refine and responded by implementing the following solutions.
“I would be very motivated to do well so I could get the Outstanding carrot.”
Next Steps
Make priority revisions and hand off to developers. As a Phase 2, we would incorporate a few things; have the ability to add a picture of your favorite reusable bag — several people were very passionate about bags from particular stores. Have a way to “batch” your Share Stats on one click to social feeds. Provide store recommendations with good sustainability practices.
Reflection
Without a doubt, my awareness was raised concerning how prevalent single-use plastic bags are still in many stores. I believe a solution like unplastic can shape tangible action for the greater good — this is possible as a collaborative effort with consumer-driven data to back it up. I’m happy to report that I’ve become very intentional about bringing my own bags every time I shop. Choosing to take one small action really can make a big difference.
