Amber Waves
Redesigning the ordering process for Amber Waves Farms' wholesale app.
Despite having recently built an online wholesale ordering platform, Amber Waves' customers kept texting and emailing in orders, causing business challenges for both parties. I helped them rethink their wholesale ordering process and redesign their app to optimize efficiency (while reducing the amount of manual orders).
Identifying the Problem
Based on user interviews, it was clear to me that their app didn’t have any customization or note features, so users felt less confident that their order would be accurate. This is likely why even if customers placed an order, they would still email or text the farm to make specific requests.
Persona
Our persona was based on the an interview I had with a local chef who uses the app, as well as a few dozen texts and emails from customers that Amber Waves shared with me.
User flow and sketches
Ultimately, I chose to focus on prioritizing a reorder feature in their shop page and a customization feature in their product description page. Not only would these improve ordering speed for regular/pantry items, but also provide users with confidence that their placed orders are accurate. This in turn would encourage them to use the app more, consolidating orders through a single channel to improve efficiency for Amber Waves.
Wire Frames
Eventually these became lo-fi comps which included new features like an 'Order Again' section for quick reordering, and a customization section in the PDP page.
Final Product
Finally, I presented the team with these high-fidelity comps. The key features that I highlighted addressed their user and business needs and we were ready to hand off to development.
Key Features
The ‘Order Again’ section not only features items that they’ve ordered in the past, but also displays the amount they ordered as well as prices. The horizontal scroll means that minimal vertical space is lost.
Users can click into the product to make special requests, or add to cart directly on this page.
‘Special Requests’ lets users make specific requests for a more accurate order. In this particular mock up, they can choose 3 customizations for this item. I added a text field below in case there was any other details they wanted to add. This serves as a catch all in case they do not find the requests they need. It’ll save them from having to exit the app to text the farm.
The ‘Substitutions’ section has 2 choices - contact the user, or cancel the item. Ultimately we decided that if the item is out of stock for some reason, the user would want to hear more details about replacement options.