A Design + Product Leader
iOS eCommerce App
Building growth for a state wide food services app by increasing customer adoption to 80% and growing cart size by 50%.
Context
About the company
MOCO Food Services is one of Queensland’s largest food suppliers, servicing thousands of restaurants and cafés across the region. Their business strategy focussed on YoY growth of 30% for 3 years but their food ordering app was only used by 20% of customers. This resulted in the majority still ordering through phone, fax, or email, which couldn't scale to meet their business growth, so they invested in redesigning their iOS app.
Impact
The launch of the redesigned B2B ordering app delivered significant business results:
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Customer adoption grew from 20% to over 80% within 18 months.
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The average basket size increased by 50%, directly boosting MOCO’s revenue.
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Administration and support costs were reduced, allowing the customer service team to focus more on growing sales.
The success of the app fundamentally shifted how customers engaged with MOCO, creating a more scalable and profitable ordering model for the business.
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The problem
MOCO’s existing mobile experience had been built quickly using an ERP plugin to their warehouse. It suffered from major usability problems, specifically a broken search functionality, poor product information, and a cumbersome ordering flow.
There was no meaningful incentive for customers to use the app. For many, it was quicker and easier to pick up the phone than navigate the confusing digital experience.
My role
I was the product design lead who designed the mobile app experience, ran regular evaluative testing and collaborated with our cross functional team to release the app. As a consultant with NTT Data, I was part of a cross functional squad who was brought in to work with MOCO onsite for 12 months.
Example of the final UI screens
The challenge
MOCO’s customers were busy, price-sensitive, and varied widely in technical ability.
We needed to design an experience that was intuitive, fast, and made it easy to find and order the right products.
I ran foundational research that uncovered the highest impact features:
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more meaningful product information
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developing taxonomies to inform a better search and filter
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exposing MOCO's large line of product categories
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real time stock visibility
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visibility of specials, rewards and new products
Foundational research
Key Insight
Evaluative testing quickly revealed that poor product visibility was a major barrier to adoption. Key items were buried too deep in the app’s navigation, and the search functionality wasn’t working as intended — making it difficult for users to find what they needed. Improving discoverability became a top priority for the redesign.
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l led generative research to help us identify the top jobs, challenges and help us prioritise our first release. We drove all around Brisbane, the Sunshine and Gold Coast to run co design workshops and interviews with MOCO’s diverse customer base, including chefs, café owners, purchasing managers, and administrative staff.
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Design exploration, evaluative testing
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User interviews
I then led the team through interviewing and observing over 20 participants, including ecologists, zoologists, botanists, volunteers, and administration staff (data managers).
Findings
This research revealed that data managers were in fact the primary users of the collected data, and their challenges in managing multiple, disparate databases significantly impacted reporting speed and accuracy.
Ethnographic research
To help validate the assumption that a tablet app would be beneficial, I organised site visits for the team to observe scientists' data collection processes in the field. The process of observing the scientists collect data out in the field, highlighted some important challenges to the effectiveness of a field tablet app.
Key Insight
The site visits were extremely illuminating, as we observed that paper and pen (even in rain) was a far more efficient way to collect data in the field.
Observing how scientists collect data out in the field.
Unexpected insights
A tablet app was less efficient than paper
Direct observation and scientist feedback confirmed that paper-based surveys were the most efficient method for data capture in the field. This method proved to be faster and more reliable than using a tablet app.
Poor network coverage risked data loss
The remote nature of the field sites, often located in areas with no network coverage, posed a significant risk to data loss if a tablet app was used. This could lead to corrupted or lost survey data, resulting in substantial financial costs and delays in project timelines.
Environmental factors hindered app interaction
Using a tablet in the field was cumbersome, especially when dealing with environmental challenges like gloves in cold weather, rain, glare and dust and the need to rapidly record observations of fast-moving wildlife.
Data management was significantly challenging
We found, once the data was collected, there were significant challenges with managing, collating and analysing the data for the reports. Disparate systems, poor usability and multiple desktop versions all contributed to incredible challenges for the data managers.
The research found that addressing challenges faced by data managers, not scientists, was the key to achieving DES's objectives.
Defining our users
The pivot
Redesigning the data management system
The pivot meant shifting the focus from developing a tablet app to improving the data management systems used by data managers in their Headquarters.
By immersing the team in the research process, they gained a firsthand understanding of the core challenges. This shared experience fostered collaborative problem-solving, enabling us to redefine our hypothesis and desired outcomes with confidence.
New hypothesis
We believe that...
by building a new data management system, we will improve the data entry process, data integrity and analysis speed for data managers, improving reporting speed, so we can get outcomes to funding stakeholders quicker.
Testing, iterating and building the hypothesis
Once we were all able to align on the problem, we began the process of test, learn and refine to get to the final solution. There were over 40 different types of surveys, so we analysed the most common components, to create a library that could be re-used to speed up design and delivery.
Example data sheet I needed to design for
Outcomes
The new web application provides significant improvement to the team's reporting workflow, reducing administration burden and volunteer hours.
Improved Reporting Capability
Data is now centralised and integrates both fauna and flora records, so can be sourced and collated for richer reporting and insights.
Improved Data Entry Efficiency
By implementing modern UI standards and improved usability, we achieved a 50% reduction in data entry time, speeding up reporting for funding bodies.
Optimising Funding For The RIGHT Problem
By aligning on the real problem, DES could strategically invest government funding to achieve the highest value outcome, ensuring impactful and sustainable results.