Cinema Food & Beverage Pre-Order App Feature
Transforming the cinema experience for movie goers and driving growth for cinemas.
Background:
Company: Apollo
Services: Research, & Design
Role: Product Research, Product Design, Product Management
Growing pains in an ever-evolving industry
As the cinema industry evolves, staying competitive becomes a priority for all. The idea of pre-order snack features is catching on fast, and in Europe, cinema clients are excited to see how this option can enhance their connection with customers and potentially boost profits.
Increase convenience…. increase sustainability
Our top objective was to conduct research and design a user-friendly pre-order feature for a food and beverage app that would seamlessly integrate with the existing cinema app, allowing customers to order items while purchasing movie tickets and providing additional options for ordering after already purchasing tickets.
Project Approach
Data Synthesis
Affinity Mapping
User Personas
Customer Journeys
Usability Testing
Evaluate users ability to complete tasks & identify changes to improve performance
Competitive Analysis
Interviews
Customer purchase analysis / Business analysis
Process Mapping
Research Phase
Feature Mapping
Lo & Hi-Fi Wireframes
UI Library
Site Architecture & UI Design
Research:
The research phase started by connecting with Apollo cinema stakeholders, tapping into their insights and expertise firsthand. From there, I also reached out to other external stakeholders like Finnkino, to ensure a well-rounded understanding of the project's landscape.
Competitive Analysis:
With market research and competitor analysis, we found that bigger cinema chains have fully jumped on board with F&B pre-order features, even upgrading their concession areas and investing in top-notch equipment. On the other side, smaller cinemas have leaned towards ticket pre-orders, with fewer F&B options. But, there's a noticeable shift for even smaller cinemas towards F&B pre-orders becoming the go-to industry standard.
Interviews:
In conversations with cinema management and frontline staff, we obtained clear insights into food and beverage sales and operations, uncovering potential challenges with potential feature options and opportunities in offering customizable elements for cinema locations. Meanwhile, discussions with cinema-goers revealed a high level of interest in a pre-ordering option, particularly among parents looking for convenience options.
Business Process Mapping:
The in-depth analysis of the current purchase process pinpointed areas of friction, inefficiencies, and yet untapped potential. Through understanding these aspects, we began establishing a solid foundation to transform the user experience.
Business Analysis:
We compiled and synthesized data on food and beverage sales and gained fascinating insights into customer purchasing habits, especially when it came to how the seats they chose which affected their choices in the kinds of foods and beverages they purchased.
Data Synthesis:
Exploring the data to uncover patterns was vital to instill stakeholder confidence and provide the project with valuable insights into the cinema business about profitable user segments and engagement strategies.
Affinity Mapping:
We explored customers' motivations, pain points, and concerns, uncovering their desire for smoother F&B purchases, concerns about a non-user-friendly pre-order feature, and the need for menus tailored to their preferences.
User Personas:
To enhance the user-centered design, we utilized two user personas: The Coordinator, who orchestrates smooth cinema visits for groups, and The Convenience Shopper, valuing effortless planning and enjoyment, each with their own stories, needs, and motivations.
User Journey:
To understand the cinema-goer's experience on a deeper level, we mapped customer journeys, revealing key insights in areas such as food and beverage purchasing time pressure, frustrating queues, and having to make separate purchase transactions for movie tickets and snacks.
Information Architecture & UI Design:
Introducing a new feature to an existing cinema product involved balancing innovation while maintaining current product aesthetics. We approached this challenge by focusing on the development of an intuitive flow and blending new elements into the current app's color and iconography systems.
UI Library:
As part of the existing white-label app, we incorporated standing UI elements into our high-fidelity wireframes while designing additional components to bring the updated UI to life.
Lo & Hi-Fi Wireframes:
In our wireframe development phase, we started by sketching out rough ideas, aiming to blend new elements into the app while staying true to its existing feel. We drew inspiration from various sources, refining our designs in high-fidelity wireframes through feedback loops to ensure they exceeded stakeholder and user expectations.
