Layla Soileau | UX Designer

H-E-B / Product Design

Solving inventory issues during the COVID-19 lockdown

Designing a responsive app that would allow customers to get food and essentials if inventory issues persisted during lockdown.

Challenge: When the “stay-at-home” order was announced due to the COVID-19 pandemic, H-E-B and other grocery stores were facing issues with assortment and inventory.

To prepare in case these issues persisted or worsened, a team was proactively formed to ideate and develop potential solutions.

Challenge: When the “stay-at-home” order was announced due to the COVID-19 pandemic, H-E-B and other grocery stores were facing issues with assortment and inventory.

To prepare in case these issues persisted or worsened, a team was proactively formed to ideate and develop potential solutions.

My Role

I was a product designer collaborating with another product designer, product manager, and developers on my team.

Mockups of the final Basic Bundles designs.

Design Thinking

We ran a full-day design sprint with the entire team, focusing on three sets of customers:

Homebound Texans (elderly, at-risk, or disabled)
Medical workers
Families with children

We settled on a design for the homebound Texan since a solution for that particular customer type would also benefit everyone.

We ran a full-day design sprint with the entire team, focusing on three sets of customers:

Homebound Texans (elderly, at-risk, or disabled)
Medical workers
Families with children

We settled on a design for the homebound Texan since a solution for that particular customer type would also benefit everyone.

Mural board with design thinking exercises for the COVID-19 pivot project

Concept: Basic Bundles

We decided to design and develop a responsive web app for Bundles — a way to order bundles of different food types such as chicken, fish, vegetables, fruits, and non-perishables, ignoring brands and focusing on getting quality food to customers.

Basic Bundles customer app workflow

Basic Bundles customer app wireframes — the home page, selecting bundles, checkout, and pick up or delivery confirmation.

iOS Basic Bundles Partner app — for completing bundles at stores. Partners log in, find an order, collect bundle items for delivery, and mark the order as complete or “ready for delivery.”

The Basic Bundle Captain Dashboard allows to understand how many bundles need to be assembled and the volume of bundles expected to be ready at any time of day.

Outcomes

The initial MVP designs for bundles.heb.com, the partner app, and bundles captain dashboard were completed in three days.

Development was completed within a week and a half.

Fortunately, we never had to release this app to the public because assortment and inventory issues eventually improved.

The initial MVP designs for bundles.heb.com, the partner app, and bundles captain dashboard were completed in three days.

Development was completed within a week and a half.

Fortunately, we never had to release this app to the public because assortment and inventory issues eventually improved.