Embodied
Shopping
Interview | Contextual Inquiry | Research Synthesis
What is Embodied Shopping?
Experiences that are grounded in the body. Embodied experiences focus on how users physically interact with products or environments, considering not only their mental engagement but also how sensory and physical experiences influence their behavior and understanding.
Through this project, we aim to understand how grocery shoppers interact with stores, their motivations and their frustrations.
Project Type
Group of 3
My Contribution
Protocol, Field Study, Interview, Contextual Inquiry, Primary Research Synthesis
Duration
2 Weeks
Interview
Protocol
Goal
To understand a shopper’s experience at global grocery stores, including their preferences, likes, frustrations, and overall journey.
Consent
"I’d like to ask for your consent to audio record this interview. The recording will be used strictly for research purposes, and your identity will remain anonymous."
Disclaimer
"Additionally, if at any point you'd prefer to go off the record, just let me know, and we can pause the recording. If you decide you'd like to retract any statements, they will be deleted from the recording."
Lead-off Question
Can you walk me through how a grocery store trip usually goes for you?
Back-up Question
What do you look for when you shop at international grocery stores? Can you describe some aspects of shopping there that are the most important to you?
Follow-up Topics
Preparation, Positive Experiences, Frustrations, Customer Service, Scope for Improvement.
The
Interview
27 years old
Lives in Seattle
Shops at Trader Joe's, H-Mart & Mayuri Indian Store
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Items are sometimes labeled inconsistently or without sufficient explanation, making it hard to identify what the product is or how to use it.
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Global grocery stores provide a broad but often shallow selection of cuisines. While they offer a variety of cuisines, they may not offer enough depth or range within a specific cuisine, limiting the options for niche cooking.
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The online search engines of grocery stores are not effective. She cannot reliably search for specific items or filter by cuisine, leading her to physically go to the store to check availability.
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Even in Indian grocery stores, she struggles to find specific items due to language differences, with products often having multiple names depending on the region or language spoken in India.
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Big grocery stores have too many options, which makes it overwhelming.The participant prefers smaller, more curated selections.
The
Contextual
Inquiry
22 years old
Lives in Bloomington
Shops at World Foods Market
21 years old
Lives in Bloomington
Shops at World Foods Market
45 years old
Lives in Austin
Visits her daughter in Bloomington
WHO is the participant?
Two female college students, who are roommates, enjoy cooking together, and love exploring recipes from different cuisines. They are accompanied by one of the student's mothers.
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WHERE is the study conducted?
World Foods Market, Bloomington. Participants started shopping from the fresh produce section. The study began from the end of the fresh produce section.
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WHAT is the task for the contextual inquiry?
To observe and understand how this group navigates/explores the store, what products they choose, and what frustrations arise due to various factors.
Goals
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The roommates are looking for specific ingredients, including halal chicken and a Middle Eastern yogurt (Shamid Dono), to cook dinner that evening.
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They also aim to discover new products, like different types of olives, that are unavailable at their usual grocery stores.
Problems
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They have difficulty locating halal chicken and the specific yogurt they need, leading them to backtrack through the aisles (twice).
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They consider going to another store (Fresh Thyme) to find familiar brands of meat.
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At checkout, they encounter delays due to confusing directions and limited staff.
Motivations
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The roommates are motivated by their love of cooking, exploring new cuisines, and the enjoyment they find in in-person grocery shopping, which they find calming and fulfilling.
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The mother appreciates the variety of Middle Eastern ingredients the store offers, as it reminds her of home.
Field
Study
World Foods Market
Local Grocery Store
Bloomington, Indiana
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There are no staff available on the floor for help, so customers must seek help from the cashier for assistance.
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The store typically has 1 or 2 cashiers, which may slow down the checkout during busier times. (usually Fridays)
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The store has limited and broad signage, making it difficult to navigate and find specific products easily.
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The use of signages with different font styles, sizes and colors can be found throughout the store.
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A broad but shallow selection, while the store offers a variety of cuisines, they don’t carry a wide range of ingredients within each cuisine.
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Certain items are placed disjointedly, items that are commonly used together are often placed in different aisles. (e.g., pasta is found in one aisle, but pasta sauce is located elsewhere)
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Missing Cultural Ties with the ingredients offered.
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Flatbreads and Wines are the most popular products
Who are we
designing
for?
Sara
Shops at World Foods Market
Curiosity-Driven Food Explorer
Sara walks into World Foods Market, eager to find inspiration for her next experiment in the kitchen. As she browses the aisles, she feels overwhelmed by the sheer number of options, with unclear signage making it difficult to identify new and exciting ingredients. Eventually, she discovers a selection of flatbreads at the back of the store but finds their presentation uninspiring. Unsure of how to use them creatively, she pulls out her phone to look for recipes online, but struggles to decide which flatbread to choose and what to pair it with. With no staff around to ask for advice, she feels increasingly frustrated and uncertain about her choices. After making her selections, she heads to the checkout, questioning whether she picked the right ingredients. Leaving the store, Sara feels a sense of disappointment, realizing that the experience didn’t provide the guidance she needed to feel confident in her cooking adventures.
The
Bottomline
Our curiosity-driven food explorers faced the following problems:
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Inconsistent labeling and shallow selection make it difficult for customers to identify and use new ingredients.
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Customers experience frustration with disjointed product placement and poor signage, making it harder to navigate the store.
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Customers feel overwhelmed by an abundance of choices in large stores, making it difficult to focus and select the right products.
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Customers often struggle to locate specific items and navigate the store.
From our users' perspective, these pain points dampen the excitement they bring to grocery shopping. Based on our research, we framed our problem around encouraging our users' curiosity and sense of inspiration, ensuring their shopping experience is as enjoyable and fulfilling as they expected.
Personal Reflections
Something I nailed
From a personal standpoint, I surprised myself with the way I took pauses and left some silences unoccupied when I listened to the interview and contextual inquiry recordings. This was something I have struggled with in the past, which led to me over explaining questions and rushing interviews. I also liked the call backs that I made to bridge two questions or themes together.
Something I can work on
One thing that I need to work on is not asking leading questions. Even though I was mindful of avoiding leading questions when developing the interview protocol, I found myself relying on them when asking spontaneous questions during the interview.