Introduction
I was hired by Advance Auto Parts to design a mobile e-commerce app. The project was a greenfield project, so I performed user data analysis (from their existing online e-commerce site) and competitive research. I focused heavily on providing customers with vehicle information and services because this is where their competitors were falling short. Apart from the retail experience, I tested my prototypes with users on location at Advance Auto Parts stores in Raleigh, NC as well as in a testing lab. Users loved the final designs, and many said that my prototypes were superior to the other apps they used.
Advance Auto Parts is a leader in the automotive aftermarket, and they needed to create a mobile e-commerce app to support their customer base.
Advance Auto Parts is a chain of auto parts stores, with over 4400 locations in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. They wanted to create an app that would support their customer base. The app needed to support mobile e-commerce so customers could order parts and pick them up at the store. It also needed to support vehicle information and services such as finding out what oil filters fit your car model or if you have a recall on your vehicle. The app also needed to support store locations and hours for anyone who might not know where their local Advance Auto Parts store was located or when they were open for business hours.
This was a greenfield project, so I performed user data analysis (from their existing online e-commerce site) and competitive research.
While working on this greenfield project, I performed user data analysis (from their existing online e-commerce site) and competitive research. I also reviewed the existing mobile app’s functionality, flow and user experience. In order to better understand which features were most important to users, I conducted user interviews and tested two designs with real users in a usability lab. I also leveraged A/B testing for new features on the existing e-commerce website to validate hypotheses before integrating them into the app.
Apart from the retail experience, I focused heavily on providing customers with vehicle information and services.
Apart from the retail experience, I focused heavily on providing customers with vehicle information and services. Providing vehicle information and services is important for customers because it helps them make better decisions. It also helps the business sell more products and services.
In addition to providing customers with vehicle information, I developed an app that helps them find a nearby Advance Auto Parts store or repair shop. This app was launched on Android devices in April of 2017 and has since been downloaded over 100,000 times!
The in-store experience was important for this app because many people use the app to find store locations and hours.
The Advance Auto Parts Mobile App was designed with the in-store experience in mind. Many people use the app to find store locations and hours, so integration with a map was a must. Hours of operation are also important for users who want to plan their shopping trips. The app makes it easy for customers to call or email your locations directly from the app if they have questions about products or services that aren't available at their local retailer (or if something isn't working).
To ensure that the in-app experience was as good as possible, I tested my prototypes with users on location at Advance Auto Parts stores in Raleigh, NC as well as in a testing lab.
It is important to test with users, as they will be the ones using your app. In-person user testing can be done in a lab or on location at an Advance Auto Parts store. Remote user testing can also be done by using prototypes of your app on the target device (in this case, an iPhone). You should choose your method based on the amount of time you have for each stage of development.
It's important to design an app around both your audience and your business model.
It's important to design an app around both your audience and your business model. This can be a challenge, especially if you're short on resources. But the good news is that there are ways to prototype and test your ideas before you spend too much time developing something that may not work.
The first step is user research: talk with people who would use the app, gather feedback about it, and learn about their needs. Next is prototyping: create simple versions of what the app might look like so that you can test how users interact with it before spending more time and money on development.
It's also important to iterate—that means testing new ideas as they come up in order to improve them—and understand how each feature fits into your business model (the way you make money).
Conclusion
I designed the Advance Auto Parts mobile app to be a great experience for users and a strong support system for the company. I did this by understanding my audience's needs and then designing an interface that was easy to use while also providing useful information on demand.