Grocery Inventory App Product Definition
Product Name
Grocery Inventory App
Goal
Allow a [inventory based] grocery shopper to quickly and easily output the perfect grocery list
Users & Stakeholders
Inventory-based Grocery Shopper
Overview
Person who has a consistent inventory of the things he/she needs weekly. This person’s goal is to get
the precise amount of fruits, vegetables, dairy, bread, toiletries, cereal, etc. that will be needed for the
week (at minimum), so that he/she will never run out of the food needed. This person’s requirements
for food inventory are fairly consistent on a week-to-week or period-to-period schedule, so this person
always knows what is needed (usually based on a consistent and pre-determined list).
The goal of the application is to serve this person and his/her shopping needs.
Qualification
To qualify to be an inventory-based shopper, a person must go on one or more shopping trip per month
that includes the person purchasing 75% or more of the items based on needs identified using an
inventory-based system. The person is likely to shop in a consistent time cycle (e.g. weekly), but this is
not a requirement to be an inventory-based shopper. The shopping trip may be online or in-person.
Persona
My name is Eric. I’m a business and results-oriented professional, likely 20s-40s. Food and groceries
enables me to do other things, but it is not a goal in itself (at least for the majority of case). I want pretty
much the same foods all the time, so I can focus on what’s important to me. Routine with food does not
bother me much, and I pretty much get the same things every time I buy groceries. I also need to make
sure I have toilet paper, paper towels, snacks, etc. so that I am not bugged with missing things or
problems during the week. Emergency runs to the grocery store are pains that I would rather not deal
with. I either shop for myself, myself and others like me, or myself and others who now eat food based on
my system. I may make special meals for a date or event with friends, or go on the occasional food
adventure. In those cases, I may make a special trip or add a few other things to my list. However, if left
to my own devices, I order food and groceries on my inventory system so I can move on.
This persona is based mostly on my thoughts and a few early customer interviews. It may need further
definition later on in development
Needs
Replenish inventory supply of food and groceries with as little time, money, or effort as possible.
Elements of value:
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Replenish desired inventory:
o Completely (all of it – includes food, office supplies, hygiene items, maybe even socks)
o Accurately – all of items are purchased
o Correctly – the right amount of the right items are purchased
Minimize:
o Time
o Effort
o Stress
o Gas costs & driving
o Monetary costs, if possible
Top Pains:
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Forgetting needed items
Time and cognitive load to create grocery list
Entering grocery list into delivery provider or going to buy them (maybe addressed later)
Wants money, time, stress, and cognitive load for all grocery purchasing to be zero
Goals
Create the perfect grocery list for my needs with as little effort as possible.
Non Inventory-Based Grocery Shopper
Person who uses some other method to make (or not make) a grocery list. Methods include:
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Memory-based: goes to the store and buys whatever he/she remembers running out of
Need-based: adds something to the grocery list when he/she runs out of it
Spontaneous: goes to the store and buys whatever he/she believes he/she will want or need for
the week
Plan-based: person plans meals for the week, including recipes, then makes a grocery list that
includes all the ingredients on the planned meals
Mixed: some mixed approach that does not clearly fall within the inventory-based shopper’s
needs
To qualify as a non-inventory based shopper, a person must purchase own groceries but not meet the
requirement of an inventory-based shopper.
Non inventory-based shoppers will not benefit from the use of the application and will annoy our
customer service team with requests for features that are not within our goals. The goal of the product
and marketing team will be to funnel the inventory-based shoppers into the application and funnel the
non-inventory based users out of the system.
Potential Future Stakeholders
Potential partners:
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Grocery Stores
On-demand delivery and pickup systems (e.g. Instacart, Curbside, etc.)
Vision
All inventory shoppers can easy, seamlessly, and accurately create their grocery lists and make sure they
buy everything they need.
Scenarios
Scenario #1: I have time and it’s time to purchase groceries. I need to create a grocery list that is based
on my inventory needs so that I can purchase those groceries
Scenario #2: after completing scenario #1, I have a few additional non-regular purchases that I need to
add to my list
In both scenarios, user finds a way to get and stock groceries.
User & Product Ecosystem
The user is going through the following process to order groceries:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Create inventory list
View all inventory & make grocery list
Output list
Purchase the groceries (or data entry for someone else to purchase)
Restock items in the home
This product is attempting to create a superior experience for steps 1-3 specifically for the inventorybased grocery shopper.
The user may be using some other grocery list application. They may also be using their own system for
inventory. Additionally, they may be using any one or number of grocery retailers and may even have
other people shopping for them.
Competition
The market definition is based on the definition of our target user and his/her needs. As such, these are
the users’ alternatives for creating a grocery list.
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Options for creating a list
o
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Spreadsheet or Document system – list of target inventories either electronically or
printed. Go through house and make list based on current inventory and desired
o Non-facilitated system – go through house and make list by eye-balling everything
Purchasing groceries
o Grocery store
o Online input
 Delivery
 Curbside pickup
Here are the list of competitors that an enable an inventory-based grocery user to complete her goals
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Mobile applications
o Out of Milk – appears to have an inventory system used for spices
o Grocery Tracker Shopping List – appears to have an inventory system I should check out
some time
Grocery delivery online systems – some of these systems are using past orders to predict future
orders for easier modification. Some are even using an average order predictor of the current
order. However, they still require inventory counting. This is an indirect competitor, but may be
part of the same value chain
Smart Fridge – auto-order some things
Non-Direct Competitors
The following applications are in a similar ecosystem for similar customers, but are likely not to be
helping inventory-based shopping
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“Our Groceries Shopping List” App – keeps families’ grocery lists in sync
“Organizy” shopping list app – helps people create a list, spontaneously. Cool feature: does
color items by category
Unique Value Proposition / Differentiators
Based on my current assumption that the competitors are weak and that nobody is really satisfied with
the document or word/excel systems, I believe the UVP is that someone can quickly and easily create
and manage inventories as well as create grocery lists from their mobile application all in one place. It
will be by far the easiest way to do all of this.
Technology & Development
Android mobile application – this will allow the person to take inventory while he/she is walking around
Software development methodology: agile
Developers: Native Java. Onsite preferred but can be outsourced in the beginning
Sales Funnel
Process
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Hear about the product
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o Search on Google Play, OR
o Hear about from a friend (verbal or otherwise), OR
o Hear about it from an advertisement somewhere (if we get that far)
Download the product
Test it out with a fake inventory item (likely)
Load inventory
Initial use
Repeat use
KPIs & Metrics
AARRR Metrics
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Acquisition
o View the application
o Downloads/installs
o Note: record source (e.g. Google Play, online ad, or referral)
Activation
o Create one or more items
o Generate a list of one or more items
o Create 5 or more items
o Generate a list of 5 or more items
Retention
o Engagement
 Returning users month-over-month
o Churn
Referrals (TBD)
Revenue (TBD – depends on model)
Cost of customer acquisition
Lifetime value of customer
Lifetime margin per customer
First Release
Users can create items and specify target items
Users can go through the items on their inventory list and generate their shopping list
Users can edit basic information about items (target quantity)
Marketing Strategy
Landscape – customers who are using an inventory-based system could be anywhere. We will need to
find them and make sure the messaging is getting to them (TBD)
Positioning – system to facilitate inventory-based grocery ordering
Messaging
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Values we deliver on:
o Get everything you need
o Get only what you need
Value: get everything you need & nothing less or more more, every time
Pricing – free to start using while we are growing user base. Will not do ads or anything else until value
proven.
Potential Features
These are going right into the backlog. See the backlog
Pricing
Potential future models:
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Suggest coupons/discounts
Relationships with grocers and deliverers to…
o Get a kickback on business we drive their way OR
o Get a per-use fee (through an API, which still may be a kickback)
We could also sell the data on what users are purchasing
User pays. Thoughts on pricing:
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Cost-plus (doesn’t make sense)
Value-based
Competitive
For user paying, value-based makes the most sense to start. Options for pricing include:
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Purchase
Subscription
A la carte (outputting to shopping list, etc.)
Free
Freemium
Tiered
Subscription e.g. $1 / month may make sense. Also a one-time purchase of $2.99 may make sense.
Free may make sense if we are getting money elsewhere. Decide later.
Launch Strategy
Launch goals:
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Get users using the system and delivering value
Perfect the system for our target market
Launch strategy:
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Use individually
Leverage network to get initial users
o Interview in-person
o Develop initial product
o Get people to start using
Refine the product
Expand when ready
o Allow open downloading on Google Play
o Start gathering more metrics
Risks and Assumptions
The initial inventory load is going to be a time-consuming process for the user. We need to show them
that this is worth the trouble and show them the value and make sure they will do this on their own.
Options to mitigate:
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Create and test awesome onboarding process
If we found people are using an excel-based process, perhaps we could include an upload from
excel early on
For early users (ones we gather in-person), we could offer to do this for them
Entire process must be valuable enough for inventory to do, from initial load to repeat use. This need
can pretty much only be addressed through good UX, PM, and development strategies while including
plenty of customer feedback and experimentation