Redesign Ideas: Shopping System

It is clear from our persona evaluations that our weakest feature in the current system is the Home Shopping feature.

The main complaints regarding this system (as nicely summarised by Sam) are:

• Generally seems too complicated, but the idea is liked by some personas who are in need.
• Users concerned about security/access to bank accounts etc.
• Some elderly users won't have bank accounts?
• Current inability to pick a particular shop to buy from?
• Will become tedious and repetitive if shopping list is essentially the same every week and requires ordering at the same regular time. Possibly automate the whole thing and set up along with the system?
• Users typically either want to rely on this or don't want to use it at all. Could prove difficult to cater to all?

I've been having a think, and here's what I've some up with. For inspiration, I've been looking at Meals On Wheels and from what I gather, the system there is that you order the food, and you can pay when it is delivered. I think we could use a similar system here to overcome problems due to lack of a bank account or internet shopping.

Shopping System Redesign

Features:

• System 'remembers' your previous shopping list so that if you buy the same thing every week, all you need to do is reorder that list. You should be able to navigate away from this list to be able to add new items to it. Items can also be removed if you don't want them that week.
  
• A list of 'recommended products' ought to appear as the first category. These products include those which are most frequently bought by the customer, along with possible suggestions for others. Special offers could also be included here.
  
• System allows you to order your shopping and you can pay for it when it is delivered.
  
• System is operated by one well-respected supermarket.
• Drivers are professional and friendly. They are trained to deal with the elderly and carry ID on them at all times. They will bring the shopping into the house if the user wishes.
  

I realise that this does not appear to fix all of the problems that Sam arose, but we have to remember that we will not be able to please everyone. The fact that the user may not use this system should not be a problem, we don't want to impose upon their routines and make them feel like they are being watched. The system is aimed to give them more freedom.

For example, Lily will likely not use this food-ordering system most of the time. However, she has a bad back so on days when she needs to shop but her back is too bad for her to get out of the house, the system is there to aid her in her hour of need.

I haven't allowed for the option of users picking any shop to shop from, as I think this will become unfeasible. So long as the service is provided by a reliable and respected company, most supermarkets tend to sell the same goods. Unless there was some way of tuning the system in the initial setup for the user to pick their own supermarket then?

Let me know what you all think of these ideas.