UX Interview Assignment

Group food ordering for a remote B’day party 🎉

🎯 Goal

Build a design of group food order for people living in different cities for a remote b’day party.

🔍 Research

Before jumping on to the ideation exercise, I wanted to check how others have solved the group food order problem, what considerations they made, what data they collected, what the problems identified, etc. To my surprise, there are several UX case studies already done around group food ordering and research data is available from food delivery companies as well. Going through case studies helped me understand the group food order problems, scenarios, use cases, and possible solutions better. All of the solutions focused on food orders to a single address, not different cities. So I start jotting down my thoughts and possible scenarios from a user’s perspective.

🤑 Impact of group order on business

There are several companies already doing group orders and stacking deliveries to be more efficient with logistics. Some of the benefits of ordering in a group I found in my secondary research:-

1. Increases average order value

2. Eating alone to eating together, a higher sense of connection during lockdown

3. Reduce delivery charges if orders are from the same restaurant.

4. Drive repeat orders by recurring habit loop creation. ex: Every Sunday game night, weekly team event, etc.

Source: Ordering in: The rapid evolution of food delivery

Brainstorm ⚡️

Scenarios

I looked at my notes and extracted the top challenges hosts and invitees will face while group food ordering.

Host

Ordering for all party members in different cities with different food preferences is a nightmare for the host. The host will be jumping to messaging apps or calls to know food preferences and addresses.😖Need to know everyone’s address and type for the order. 🤯How much this would cost? Will it leave a hole in my pocket because of different cities’ delivery costs, taxes, and packing charges? 😭Will everyone decide on their food in time? 🤔Will this b’day be memorable for me and others? 🤔

Invitees:

Who is paying for the order? I don’t want to. 😩When is the party? Are we eating together? 🤔I really want to eat cheese burst pizza from Domino’s. I don’t know if the host will allow this. 😭Can someone order for me, I am in a meeting. I will share my address. 😩The ProposalInstead of host ordering for everyone that too in different cities, I will allow the host to send group food order invites with criteria and let invitees decide on their food from their local restaurants, fill in their addresses, and send items to the host to place the order.I decided to add a new “Group Order” feature to Zomato mobile app.Target userIn the interest of time, I have set a boundary to design a simple solution within the Zomato app. I have interpreted the possible solutions as suitable for Zomato’s current target users.SketchesHost: Create a group order and invite people

Invitees: Accept the invite, select items and delivery location for the order.

TestingStress testing the solution with “What If” questions.What If:-all b’day party members don’t have the mobile app to order food.online food ordering is not available for all the cities where members live.a member has notifications turned off.a member doesn’t want to decide and asks the host to choose and order.a member has food at their home and wants to be part of the party.a member wants the host to order for her with a shared address.Self-annotating the sketchesNow time to look back and reflect on the design solution. I thought of annotating the sketches to stress test those considering scenarios listed. 
IMO this exercise is best done with another team member or designer to spot errors and improvements.Host flow: Notes from self-review

Invitees flow: Notes from self-review

Visual StylesI used Zomato’s brand guidelines for visual design with the aim to create an easy-to-use and fun experience for the group order.

Zomato brand colors & font

Final Mockup

Prototype Link

Note: Final mockups have limited flow.

“Thank you for your time.”

ReferencesShorter Order
With Shorter Order, you can get a group order off your to-do list in seconds. Just pick a restaurant, set the date, and…shorterorder.comVirtual Reality Environment | Spatial
spatial.iohttps://www.zomato.com/blog/mid-covid-report-2https://www.zomato.com/blog/group-buying-and-zomatoCase study: Group food ordering
A whiteboard challenge and how did I solve for itbootcamp.uxdesign.ccSwiggy Group Order Feature
Swiggy Food Delivery Appbootcamp.uxdesign.ccResponsive Web Design for ordering street-food online.
Extension to my previous UX case study-Foodlooking app | November 2021uxplanet.orgSwiggy expects food orders to return to pre-pandemic levels by year-end
Food delivery app Swiggy expects daily food orders to return to pre-pandemic levels by year end as more restaurants…economictimes.indiatimes.comSwiggy Group Order — UX Case Study
How many times have you struggled to order food in a group? When the possibilities and choices of food and restaurants…www.linkedin.comGrubhub Corporate Accounts
Sign up for a Grubhub Corporate Account now!corporate.grubhub.comPostmates Launches Group Orders — Food On Demand
Postmates has made it much, much easier to order with friends, coworkers and anyone else with its new Group Orders…foodondemandnews.comOrdering in: The rapid evolution of food delivery
How the world eats is changing dramatically. A little under two decades ago, restaurant-quality meal delivery was still…www.mckinsey.comBoxed Group Ordering
One of my first large projects at Boxed was working on Group Ordering — a feature that would allow users to collaborate…carlymoss.com