Cartwheel Case Study

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february 2015 // clara chao

A case study on Mobile Savings.

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table of contents®

Application Introduction

Competitor Analysis

cartwheel® Home Page

Overview & Analysis

cartwheel® Pages

Overview & Analysis

overall usability

and potential Solutions

Conclusion

User Experience Design - winter 201502/10/2015 10:23 am. DOES NOT EXPIRE.

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Case Study ID# 02-1315-08230-72114

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CartwheeltookoffafteritslaunchinMay of 2013, offering savings to Targetshoppers all over the nation. It is amo-bile application that offers savings anddiscounts exclusively at Target, allowingyoutoaddspecialdiscountoffersontheCartwheel system to your personalizedbarcode.Onceyouaddyourdiscountsofchoice,allyouneedtodoisscanthebarcodefromyourphone,andenjoyyoursavings!

AlthoughCartwheelhasbeeninthebusinessofmakingTargetitemsaffordableforits’customers,theydonotdirectlystatethepur-

poseofcreatingthisapplication.Itmaybeforthesakeofmarketing—soitcertainlyhasdoneitsjob,seeingasmoreandmorepeoplechooseTargetfortheirdailynecessitiesandgroceryshopping.Theapplication

isoverallveryuser-friendly,havingexperiencedarebootintheirinterfacedesignin2014,allowingshopperstocarrymobilecouponswiththem,

readilyscannableattheirconvenience!

Application Introduction

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competitor analysis®cartwheel vs. RetailMeNot

Whilemanymobilecouponapplicationshavecometothesurfacerecently,wewillbeexaminingtwopopularapplicationsamongstcou-ponusers.Whileoneisforsingle-storeuse,andtheothercanbeusedatmultiplestores,bothhavesimilar features thatwecancompare intermsofusbailityandaesthetics.Theiropeningpagesarebothsimple,withthefocusontheirapplicationnamealongwithacatchyslogan.

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retailmenot®A look at their user interface

Easywaytoexitwiththebluecrossthatencouragesuserfredomandcontrol.Alsoaclearnotificationofwhenthecouponexpires(sinceit’supatthetopandinaclearlineofsight).

Cleardisplayofthediscount,whichisthemainpointofinterestformostusers.

Thebarcodethatisrequiredforscanningisbelowthefold,givingusersanotherstep(scrollingdown)toshowtheentirebarcode.

Storeoptionsareclearlydisplayed,althoughnotinanyorder.Whilethe‘favorite’functionisagreatfeature,

thecateogriesofstoresarenotdividedupinanyparticularorder,whichmayhindereasyaccessto

thecouponlateron.

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Themapisahelpfulfea-tureandincludesmultipleviews(listoption),althoughitdoesn’tindicatewhereyouareinrelationtothestore,norhowmanymilesyouareawayfromit.

Lookingthroughthecate-goriesisstraight-forward,withallthecategorieslist-edinalphabeticalorder.Theirrespectiveicons

arealsoclearlyillustrated.Thesearchfunctionatthetoprightisintuitivelyplacedandclearlyout-

linedinwhitesoitcanbeeasilyfound.

Thenavigationisstraight-forwardwithmetaphorsthatareprettyintuitiveforusers.Thereisalsoaclearindicationofwhichpageyouarecurrentlyusing,showingthe

systemstatus.

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Thesettingsfeatureiseasilyaccessible,beingatthetopleft.Itseemsabitawkwardlyplaced,butitdoesn’thindertheuseoftheapplication.

Thestoresaredividedupintothreesections:Ourbest,Justforyou,andPopular.Thenamesareprecise,andthenavigationbetweenthemisveryeasy.

Thefocusontheuserisapparentinthisdesign,astheoptionsthatarecenteredareallabouttheuser:JustForYouandFavorites.Thisisasub-tletouch,butisstillaclearintentional

useofdeisgn.

Whilescrollingthroughalltheoffers,eachstorewillopenupaspotlightthatdisplaysaback-groundphotoandsomedetails.Asyouscrollfurtherdown,thephotoanddetailswillopenupforeachoffer;someusersmaynotbeinterestedintheoffers,butthedetailsandphotowillstillopp-upandenlargeontheirscreen.Theexperienceofscroll-ingthroughisneatandflip-book-like,butitmaynotbethemostpracticalforallusers.

Thispageisthefirstpagethatcomesuponceyouopentheapp(ifyouareaexistinguser).Thesearchfunctionisquitelarge,takingupagoodportionofthescreen,allowinguserstocheckifthestoretheyarecurrentlyshoppingathasanyoffersthroughtheapp.Theplacementofthesearchbaranditssizeisanintelligentuseofspaceontheirpart.

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cartwheel homepage®An examination on usability

Oncetheapplicationopens,thisisthefirstpagethatpopsup(forex-istingusers).Therearecurrentlynoitemsaddedtothebarcode,solet’saddsome!Notonlydoesitlettheuserknowthattherearenoitems

currentlyonthebarcode,butalsoinnumberformatthetopright.

Thecalltoactionisclearwhentherearecurrentlynoitemsonthebarcodeforscanning.Thelargeredbuttoninvitesuserstoutilizethecouponapplication

andaddoffers.

Onceitemsareadded,thebarcodeisnowscannable,readytoapplyyoursavings.Allofyourofferswillalsobelistedbelow(whichcanalsobeeasilydeleted).Eachofferalsocontainsthedayisex-piresingraysotheusersknowhowlongitcanremainontheirbarcode.

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Oncethe‘offers’itemsisselect-ed,alistofcategoriesappearsinalphabeticalorder.Usersarethenabletosearchthroughwhichcat-egorytheywant.Whiletheyarealllistedfortheusertosee,therearealotofcategoriestoscrollthough,anditmaynotbethebestwayto

displaysomuchinformation.

Afterselectinganyofthemenuoptionsfromthescreencastabove,thereisalwaysabackbuttontogobacktotheorig-inalmenu,allowinguserfree-

domandcontrol.

Thethreelinesindicatingthemenubarisrelativelyintuitive,beingusedacrossmanyap-plicationsplatforms.Itisalsoconvenientlyplacedtotap.Onceopened,theoptionsarelisteddownwardverticallywithanicontotheleftofeachmenuitem.Themostusedop-tionsareaboveadividerline,placedinorderofmostlikelytobeused.

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Thescanningfeatureisonethatisusedfairlyoften,asital-lowsuserstocheckiftheitemstheyareconsideringpurchasingcurrentlyhavediscountsviaCartwheel.Targetmadeitsotheiconwasjustatthetoprightofeveryscreen,allowingthefeaturetobeeasilyaccesible.Thescanningregionalsotakesuptheentirescreen,zoomingtheuserinonthetaskathandwithoutanydistractors.Italsopresentsahelpfulindicationofwhereyoulineupyourbarcode.

Theirsigninpageanticipatestheusertohavedifferent

socialmediaaccounts,mak-ingiteasytosignupquickly.Iftheuserdoesn’thappentohaveanylinkableaccounts,ashortformisplacedatthebottomofscreen,whichisconvenientlyplaced.Itis

nicethatbothfeaturesarefitintoonescreensotheuserdoesn’thavetogothroughtoomanystepsjustinorder

toconfigureanaccount.

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Onceyouselectacategory,alloftheofferswillbedisplayed.Theitemscanalsobesortedaccord-ingto4categories,whichisnicefortheusertobeabletoperson-alizewhatshowsup.

Afterfindinganitemyoulike,youcanclickonit,allowingaportiontodropdownthatin-cludesan‘Add’buttonsoyoucanaddthedi-counttoyourbarcode(whichisnowreadyforscanning).

Eachdiscountitemisdisplayedeffficientlywiththediscountamountinred,detailsbelowit,andaclearpicture.Bytap-pingontheitem,youarealsoabletoseewhenitexpires.Allthenecessaryinformationauserwouldwanttoknowisavailable.

Whentheitemisadded,theuserisnotifiedthatthediscounthassuccessfullybeenapplied(bygrayingouttheimageandaddingacheckmarktoit),en-suringtheuserthattheprocessiscomplete.The‘Add’buttonthenturnsintoa‘Remove’but-toniftheuserwishestodeletetheitemfromtheirbarcode.

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Thesettingsarealsopersonalized,withtheoptionsclearlydisplayedinatraditionalformat.Iftheuserwantstonavigateaway,theycaneasilyaccessthemenuatthetop

left,orthesearchandbarcodefunctionsatthetopright.

Theuserprofileclearlydis-playsallpreviousactivity,alongwiththetotalamountsavedsofar.Themaininfor-mation(offersredeemed,offerspots,andtotalsavings)areallaestheticallyformatted,withthefocusonthetotalsavings,themainpointofinterestformostcouponusers.

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ThisistheBadgespagewhereyoucankeeptrackofyoursavings,withsomeincentivetocontinuetousetheapp.Thedesignisfriendly,withsomeperksifyouareafrequentuser.Thedesignisconsistentandthecolorschemefollowsmostoftheotherpages.

ThisistheirCollectionspage,wheredifferent

dealsarecategorizedincertain‘collections’.Whilethisisaninterestingfunc-tionthatmayprovetobeuseful,thedesigndoesn’tseementirelyconsistentcomparedtotheother

pages,asitisfullofcolorandphotographs.

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overall usability®and potential solutions

Overall, theCartwheel Target app is extremely user-friendly, fo-cusingonwhattheuserwouldwantandneedduringtheirshoppingexperienceinsideTarget.Thescanningfunctionmakesiteasyfortheusertopickoutwhichitemsareondiscountwithouthavingtosearchthroughalloftheiroffers;however,iftheywanttosearchthroughtheiroffers,theyareabletoshoparoundthroughtheapplicationinordertoseewhat theymaybe interested in.Thecolorschemeofwhiteandgrayareconsistentthroughoutmostoftheappexceptthe‘Collections’page.Ifthatpagewereupdatedtomakeitmoreconsistentwiththerestoftheirotherpages,theoverallexperiencemaybemorepleasurable.

On the right includes a cap ofoneofpreviouspagesoftheapplic-aitonbefore their re-design in2014.Theyhavemadevastimprovements,leaningmoretowardsasimplisticandfunapproachwiththetealcolorsandimprovedinformationdesign.Itiscleartheyhadtheiruserinmindwhende-signingforthehappyTargetshopper.

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WhiletheCartwheelmobileapplicationisonlycateredtoonestorecomparedtotheRetailMeNotapplicaiton,itisstillextremelysuccessfulas it is.Theonlysuggestionthatcomestomind, istoallowusersto‘favorite’certainitemsorsectionstheyfrequentlyshopat,sothattheycanbenotifiedwhenthatitemgoesondiscount.Fornow,itisonlysplitupinto‘Trending,Newest,Discount,andExpiring’.AfavoritessectioncouldpotentiallydrawinalotofTargetshoppers,anditisseemstobeafeaturethatcouldbeeasilyimplementedwithaheartorstaronthesideofeach item.Cartwheel’ssuccess iscertainlyowedto itscleanandsimpleuserinterfacelayouts,alongwithTarget’sfriendlybranding.Savinghasneverbeensoeasy!

conclusions®target carthweel: coupons with a whole new spin

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cartwheel case study // february 2015