The onboarding process for becoming a self-scanning customer was overly complicated, keeping people from experiencing how much happier 🤩 and in control they’d feel with it.
Challenge
The majority of Sweden’s adult population are ICA members, yet many avoided self-scanning due to its complicated onboarding. Customers loved the control, speed and convenience it offered and data showed they spent more. Despite a 5 SEK (€0.50) loss per customer due to 'errors', store owners were eager to make self-scanning more accessible, recognising it as a clear win-win.
Short background
ICA Gruppen is Sweden’s largest grocery retailer, holding a 36% market share. With a focus on convenience and loyalty, ICA strives to make grocery shopping smoother while boosting customer satisfaction and store profitability.
My role
Senior Product Designer
My team
The amazing team at ICA and Doberman – Anna Hellman Vold, Hanna Hein, Elin Aram, Dani Montano to mention some stars ⭐️
Onboarding went
from 3 weeks
to 3 minutes
"If it were easier to get started, I would try
self-scanning” – Man, 28
Ways of working
Benchmarking competing grocery stores revealed that competitors offered multiple methods for customers to identify themselves to obtain a self-scanning handle.
Conducted in-store prototyping at ICA Liljeholmen, exposing both existing self-scanners and new customers to our digital prototypes. This hands-on approach allowed us to gather real-time feedback iteratively.
Collaborated with ICA’s tech team to ensure the solution was both user-friendly and technically feasible, aligning with the capabilities of the screens they had purchased.
By removing unnecessary steps, we introduced BankID integration and a digital ICA card with a QR code, reducing onboarding time from approximately 3 weeks to just 3 minutes, making it more accessible for everyone.
Different areas of needs when deciding what to eat for dinner
Cognitive
Emotional
Pains
Gains
Jobs to be Done
"I should eat something healthy."
"Oh, fika time!"
"I don’t have time to cook."
"It’s quick and easy."
"I need to eat"
Benchmarking competing grocery stores' services
Swipe membership card, blip driving licence
Swipe membership card, blip driving licence
Swipe membership card
Design iterations
Upon adding a colourful touchscreen by the self-scanning handles, customers mistakenly thought they needed to interact with it before identifying themselves to obtain a handle. While we aimed to provide information for first-time users, we wanted to avoid this confusion.
The solutions
Our solution was a design where the screen remained active but displayed a temporary pop-up when touched, instead of a full-screen takeover. This indicated optional guidance rather than a mandatory step. Our studies showed that returning customers interacted less with the screen and used the service more smoothly.
+4% sales increase per basket
Self-scanning accounts for around 1/3 of ICA’s total revenue
"The red colour is so clear and visible for me who has cataracts." – Woman, 79
Intuitive design
Upon receiving their self-scanning handle, it lights up green, displays their name on both the handle and the screen, and emits a sound. For this project, we worked extensively on identifying different types of sounds to correspond with the various functions of the handle, ensuring a seamless and intuitive experience.
"I don’t like having cards" – Man, 57
The end of the pink plastic card
ICA were proud of 'being the most carried plastic card' in Swedish wallets, but customers felt compelled to carry it rather than choosing to bring it. In the old solution, the card was the only way to self-scan and earn points. After 1.5 years of internal discussions, we finally introduced the digital membership card in the ICA app and Apple Wallet. Hurrah for a wallet free life!
Next challenge, re-design the self-scanning handle
Even though the self-scanning handle is loved by customers, it contributes to the challenge of having only two hands, with many tasks relying on the availability of free hands.
Hand 1 –
Hold the self scanning handle
Hand 2 –
Pick up groceries, hold a shopping basket/pull a trolley, check the shopping list and maybe even drag some hungry children around.
Hypothesis
By adding the shopping list to the self-scanning handle, we will make it easier for customers to know what to purchase, resulting in even happier customers. 🤩
Solutions
While it was technically possible to allow product additions directly from the handle, we chose to focus on editing through the ICA app, ensuring that the handle stayed constantly updated. The extra magic of the shopping list was its ability to present products in the exact order you are walking through the store, making the experience smoother and more intuitive!