Client

Pacific Mercantile Company

My Role

UX Design
UX Research

Summary

Pacific Mercantile's is a family owned Japanese grocery store located in the heart of downtown Denver. Currently owned by the third generation of the Nagai family and training up the fourth generation, they are now ready to redesign their e-commerce site and expand their reach to a diverse range of audiences.

虎穴に入らずんば虎子を得ず。
Nothing ventured, nothing gained. You can't do anything without risking something.

Project Goals

1. Organize the categories into easy to understand pieces which includes photos of each category

2. Create a streamlined ordering process

3. Bring in newer design styles, stylish typography, and color that represents Pacific Mercantile.

What did I do?

User Research
Contextual Inquiry
Personas
Competitive Analysis
Affinity Maps
Card Sorting
User Flows
Low Fidelity Wireframes
‍
High Fidelity Wireframes
Protoyping
User Testing

Ideation

Competitive Analysis

Findings

Customers of Pacific Mercantile love the comforting feel of the store and the store peaks the curiosity of those not familiar with Japanese food. Through contextual inquiry of the current website, customers found it difficult to place a simple order, and options for pick up and delivery were lacking. Customers also empathized the disorganization of the product categories as well.

Setsuko (65 - 75)

"I love how friendly and family oriented Pacific Mercantile is, but as I get older, it's getting much more difficult for me to get to the store."
Pain Points
-Lives too far from the store
-Doesn't understand how to navigate through the current website
Solution
To make the shopping experience easier for Setsuko, PMC website will have an organized layout to search and filter through products, easy navigation, and a smooth checkout process.

Jack(25 - 30)

"I love learning about new cuisines and trying it out, but I don't have the time to make it into the store and I don't quite know what certain ingredients or foods are best used for."
Pain Points
-Does not have time to get to PMC before it closes
-Has limited knowledge on Japanese ingredients but wants to know more
Solution
Photos and clear descriptions of Japanese ingredients will be Jack's best friend. He will be well informed about the products before putting them into his cart and making a purchase.

Product Page

The product page now is properly spaced and aligned, making the view much easier and less condensed. Customers can now filter through products and easily add to the cart.

Checkout

Checkout is now condensed into one page. Customers can view their product, add or delete the product, continue shopping, and fill out shipping information.

What's Next?

With the design in place, the new Pacific Mercantile e-commerce site can commence into the second phase, implementing the design on to a web platform.

There will be iterations made onto the website based on customer and owner needs.