3 UX tips for grocery delivery apps

1. If a certain products are unavailable, try your best not to show them. If a user is looking for a specific product that they can’t find, they will search for it. When they do, then you can show them an appropriate product page with a notification that tells them it’s currently unavailable (kind of like when they go to customer service when they can’t find an item in the store). In case it’s not self-evident: showcasing an item on your digital storefront and then saying it’s not really available after a user clicks on it is a phenomenal way to frustrate them.

2. If you give the option to ‘favorite’ items for easy access later…actually make finding those favorites easy to find. Instacart, for example, includes this feature but I have yet to find where ‘my favorites’ are in the app.

3. Since most people buy the same things every week, it’s best to at least provide a readily-accessible way of adding previously purchased items to your shopping cart. Even better, apps should enable users to create recurring shopping carts that automatically ship after a predetermined time frame. That way they won’t have to search for milk, eggs, and paper towels every two weeks (even if they already are in their purchase history).