A Pound of Efficiency, Sliced Thin

On our last trip to our nearby Kroger, I noticed an addition at the deli counter. The Kroger just went through a major renovation in which the florist, deli, hot meal, produce and bakery sections were overhauled and made more generally pleasant. According to me anyway. According to a Yelp user, the new layout is horrible for moms who mean business and have no desire to meander as though through a street market. To each his own. We hear that this is the busiest Kroger in the South and Friday and Sunday nights are living proof.

Back to the deli counter. It is perhaps the most awkward place in a grocery store with the exception of the 10 item or less aisle. People wander up to the counter and hover around, hoping that the attendants can keep track of who came up when so that that pushy woman who just got here and is now standing closer than me doesn't think she's getting her sliced Parmesan-Crusted, Smoked Kentucky Ham before me, no ma'am.

The problem is the layout. With long glass counters showing the product there is usually no "place your order here" spot where we can line up in orderly fashion then play with our smart phones. Instead, we're forced to actually pay attention to the people around us and put ourselves in relation to them.

So, pleased and surprised to find a new touch-screen monitor station at the deli counter, and being in the biz, curious about technology and low on roast beef, my SO and I tried it out.

The signage is good and clear, promising your deli order in 15 minutes. Now you can simply place your order, walk away to do more shopping then come back to pick up your order. Makes me wonder if there will be some wicked people in the world who place false orders for 5 pounds of olive-loaf sliced wafer thin and then just split, but I digress.

The start screen is typical for the type. Odd layout, big buttons, poor differentiation between image as content, image as decoration and image as icon but you can kind of figure it out. The readability of the call to action is poor but if you're used to self-checkout, you're used to scanning your Kroger Plus Card first anyway. It is a little unclear where the scanner is, so you have to look for it. Typical poor integration between a touch interface and the physical device(s) the make up the system.

I would redesign this screen using deli imagery in a persistent header then position a couple of calls to action in the center area to get started. I would move the Help and Espanol buttons elsewhere and stay with the convention they establish later on that "Next" and other calls to action are positioned on the bottom. This would increase the learnability of the system. As for the interface palette, nothing about dull green and gold speak to me about fresh, wholesome, delicious deli food. I would probably pick a brighter palette and more appealing hues.

Positioned with the deli counter it services to the left and the sandwich station to the right, there was a little initial confusion about whether it worked for both. Not so, its deli only.

Note the sign with "(2) Take Ticket". I don't remember seeing a "(1) Approach and Start Pushing Buttons" but perhaps that was considered self-explanatory.

The item selection interface seems a fairly straight forward designed with a decent sized image of the product and buttons to select quantities by the 1/4 pound, then select slice thickness. The buttons seem to be just large enough, with adequate space around to prevent fat fingering. I would probably increase the readability of the yellow buttons by using a darker background color. I'm not a fan of outlines within outlines within outlines, plus there are easily fixed alignment issues that would help prioritize relevant areas of the screen.

A problem happened at this point, either in the process of confirming each item that allows users to miss something, or the system is buggy. John ordered three items and only one came out. I didn't see good visibility of system status, so there's potential improvement there. It would definitely increase customer satisfaction to remember everything you've asked for.

Now more on how the system changes human behavior. First, a line formed at the monitor rather than standing in front of the counter and relating directly to the attendants. And what will this do to browsing? Do I really need to see the blob of meat before I buy it? Will a picture and price on the monitor suffice? And what about the test slice? Will people still feel comfortable walking straight up to the counter and asking for a sample when there's a line at the monitor?

The funniest thing about the set up here is that the two deli attendants to the left are standing there watching the line of 3 people waiting to use the touch screen. So, even when the attendants aren't busy, the customers know to interact with the system first and the attendants wait for the system to tell them what orders to fill. While I appreciate the solution for when times are busy, a little bit of me regrets this one more small way in which technology steps between people, makes us more efficient and less personable.

Back at the station, after John as entered 3 orders, he gets a receipt for his order.

I step in to get a close up photo of the printed artifact and this causes him to notice that of the 3 items he specified, only one is printed out.

I'll also note that while the monitor displays an order in very large, noticeable type, the receipt prints all type the same size and the order number doesn't really stand out despite the horizontal lines above and below, and the arrows pointing to it. Also note the "estimated total" which accurately sets customer expectations. It won't be exactly this amount but it'll be close.

And finally, the package of meat that comes out and is placed on the counter for customer pickup.

John solved the problem of his missed order by standing around the counter anyway and waiting for his order to come up. When the attendant handed him the roast beef order, he told her that he needed two more items and she took care of it then.

I must note that I know this last bit because John afterward. I had become temporarily mesmerized by the sheer number of flavors of hummus available.

In summary, the new system is good for eliminating confusion at the counter when times are busy. The interface needs to be designed by an Interface Designer. It currently does a good job of setting customer expectations but needs better indication of system status and consistent conventions for adding items to increase customer satisfaction.

Post script: I realize one more thing about the system that I don't like. A friend used the term "Green UX" recently and it has me intrigued. The idea is to design systems to use as little resources and energy as possible. This new system appears to require an additional plastic bag to encase the order receipt. So, one plastic bag per deli order per day per 2500 Kroger stores = a gagillion more plastic bags pointlessly used. Boo.