Case Study: St. Lawrence Market
“Food and history intersect in an enduring way at Jarvis and Front Sts.”
~ Valerie Hauch, Toronto Star
St. Lawrence Market has been at the centre of Toronto’s history since 1831. It has evolved from hosting a city hall, a jail, concert venue to becoming the culinary hub of Toronto.
The red-brick building of the South Market, built in 1904, attracts locals and tourists alike for its glorious history, and also its breads, cheeses, meat, vegetables, fish, jarred delicacies as well as merchandise from artisans.
The Opportunity
The Toronto BIA would like to bring the unique shopping experience of the St. Lawrence Market online to enable customers to shop from home. They want to build a web based tool that anyone can access in order to build an increased interest in shopping local, supplement the sales of market shops, and increase community engagement.
The way forward
Research
- On-site and off-site surveys
- In-depth interviews
- Reviews of visitors on the internet
- Comparative analysis of similar markets
Our on-site surveys of shoppers were conducted on an iPad which proved to be a very effective and efficient mode for surveying. The vendor interviews were recorded and transcribed thereafter.
We did a comparative evaluation of similar local markets and online CSA services.
We also did a comparative analysis of the websites of similar markets in other cities of the world that are comparable in demographics. These were the Borough Market in London, UK and Union Square Greenmarket in NYC.
These are the links to our surveys
On-Site survey : https://goo.gl/forms/EISg8yOY33czt7Yx2
Off-Site survey: https://goo.gl/forms/MsyKwsjjSYLsyuCH2
The Findings
The nostalgia and historical pull of the St. Lawrence Market can’t be replicated online and most shoppers were not keen on buying products from the St. Lawrence Market online. Being present at that historic site is an integral part of the shopping experience.
Also the current website was well designed and user friendly.
The main problem was that despite hosting several special events most shoppers were unaware of these. Also there is a critical need to integrate the market with social media like twitter and instagram in a more active fashion.
Our surveys indicated that shoppers love the incentives of reward programs and we decided to leverage this, to increase traffic and enhance the shopping experience at St. Lawrence Market.
Based on these findings we created the User Personas for both shoppers and vendors.
Designing the Solution
Since the demand for online shopping from St. Lawrence Market was not tremendous, we choose to go with a mobile app.
The app would
- Be linked to a reward program. Points are accrued for sign up, all transactions, and for posting on social media. Points can also be redeemed using the app at various vendors.
- Provide information about all upcoming events and the ability to purchase tickets to these events.
- Provide interactive maps of the market and information of all vendors.
- Provide a guided historical tour of the St. Lawrence Market. The vision was to have a virtual walking tour which will only be possible once the beacon technology is more developed. For now we settled for a simpler interactive tour with embedded photos, videos, audio and information.
The Userflow
Wireframes and Prototype
Below are just a few examples of how the wireframes evolved from sketches on the paper to mid-fidelity screens and finally to the final version of the prototype.
User Testing
The user testing revealed several issues with
- Navigation
- Some fonts were illegible
- There were some nomenclature conflicts
- The historical tour which was a significant part of the app was not adequately highlighted and was confusing to use.
- The rewards program also required fleshing out.
The above were incorporated in the revised version and can be viewed below. (Because of the limitations of the demo version of Invision the first version of the prototype is not available.)
The conclusion
Our team spent a lot of time in making the version 1 screens too ‘pixel-perfect’ which delayed the user testing, hence missing the project delivery deadline. We could however conduct two rounds of testing with three different users over the weekend to create a refined mid-fidelity app that could surely help increase customer engagement and make the experience of visiting and shopping at the St. Lawrence Market more enriching.
Limitations…and possibilities!
Some of the key observations that emerged from our research were that the survey sample data was too limited. For a more complete picture more extensive surveys need to be conducted at different times of the day, week, month and year. Also, a truly complete user experience does not come from digital media alone. A lot of analog factors, such as
- Better and more ample seating arrangement, including an outdoor patio when weather pemits
- Improved and updated ambience and infrastructure while retaining the original charm and character.
- More music and entertainment
- Free public wi-fi.
would all result in a far better user experience for the shoppers and visitors.
Also more features could easily be added to the app to include
- The ability to order food using apps like Ritual and Ubereats.
- Shoppers could also sign up for weekly delivery of a box of assorted specialities from St. Lawrence Market, like Mama Earth.
- The loyalty program could provide benefits like special ticket prices or event tickets that are redeemed against accrued points. Alternatively the reward points could add up towards a surprise basket of goodies from St. Lawrence Market. This also provides an opportunity for some delightful design with the basket virtually filling up in front of your eyes.
- And like mentioned earlier, with the development of beacon technology the historical tour of the market could be more real and enjoyable.
A world of possibilities awaits, indeed !
