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: 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: 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: 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: 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. Options for creating a list o 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 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 “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 Hear about the product 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 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 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: 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: Cost-plus (doesn’t make sense) Value-based Competitive For user paying, value-based makes the most sense to start. Options for pricing include: 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: Get users using the system and delivering value Perfect the system for our target market Launch strategy: 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: 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