Grocery orders for a co-op

Research

I spent two Saturdays behind the counter, answering the phone and packing orders with the volunteers. I then interviewed eight members, from students to retired couples, about how they planned their weekly shop and what they liked about calling in.

The volunteers had their own needs. They packed orders between serving customers, so they needed the list in the order of the shelves, and they needed to see at a glance which orders were due in the next half hour.

Decisions

We kept the ordering short: this week's produce as a single list, a basket that remembers last week's order, and a pickup slot chosen from fifteen-minute windows. Stock updates the moment an item sells out, so nothing gets promised twice.

Members did not want an app. They wanted the shop to know them.

Every order confirmation is signed by the volunteer who will pack it, which kept the personal tone members asked for. Substitutions are offered by the packer, never decided for the member.

Shipping

We launched on the web first and added iOS a month later. By the third month the co-op took 1,900 orders a week, by the fifth there were no phone orders left, and 96% of pickups happened in the chosen slot.

We kept one phone number for members who could not or would not order online. By the fifth month nobody was calling it, but it stays on the website, because keeping it costs nothing and some members like knowing it is there.