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Expanding iFood beyond the app:
Point of Sale
Company:
iFood
Year:
2020-2021
Role:
Product Designer, UX Researcher, Strategic Designer
About the company
Think food, think iFood.
_ iFood is a leading food delivery company in Latin America, connecting customers, restaurants, and delivery partners through innovative technology.
_ While primarily an app-based service, the company is constantly seeking solutions to improve the restaurant experience and optimise operations.
The opportunity
Market research and quantitative data showed that over 1 million businesses - including bars, restaurants and takeaways - operated outside the iFood app.
Many of these establishments were small businesses that relied on offline sales channels such as face-to-face transactions, phone orders and WhatsApp.
How can iFood help the restaurants to handle all of these orders that are coming in from so many different channels, both inside and outside of the app?
The Challenge
The company saw an opportunity to broaden its impact by integrating alternative sales channels into its Order Manager system, a tool that allows restaurants to manage online orders.
The key decision was the integration of point-of-sale (POS) functionality so that restaurants could centralise all incoming orders - whether from the iFood app, phone or WhatsApp - into a single interface.
Building the MVP
Built on market insights, the MVP faced low adoption, prompting research that uncovered challenges and informed strategic improvements.
_ The decision to develop the MVP of the POS tool was based on internal knowledge of restaurant operations and market research. However, when the beta version was launched, the adoption rate among restaurant owners (internally referred to as "partners") was extremely low.
_ Initially, my role focused on designing user flows and interfaces for the new POS functionality. However, when I observed low engagement, I took the initiative to conduct qualitative research to uncover the root causes of the lack of interest.
_ In order to address this, I developed a discovery plan to identify the key pain points and gain a better understanding of why restaurant owners were not engaging with the product. This research led to deeper insights into user behaviour, which ultimately led to refinements to the product strategy.
MVP screens
Discovery Phase:
Understanding the Users
Once the beta version was launched, I oberved that the primary users of the tool were the restaurant owners themselves.
As most of these businesses were small, the owners had multiple responsibilities: running the business before, during and after opening hours.
Research Approach
_ In order to understand the day-to-day struggles of these multi-tasking business owners, I conducted remote interviews, visited facilities to observe real-world workflows, and created WhatsApp user groups to get direct feedback.
Key Insights
_ Traditional order management:
Many restaurant owners were still using pen and paper to manage orders and finances, making the transition to digital tools a challenge.
_ Lack of perceived value:
Users didn't see a compelling reason to manually enter offline orders into the system, as it was an extra effort with no clear benefit.
_ Demand for financial insight:
Beyond order tracking, restaurant owners expressed a greater need for financial insight, such as daily revenue summaries and payment breakdowns.
The reality that I encountered when I visited the facilities
Refining the Solution
Based on these findings, I led collaborative sessions with the product and engineering teams to define the most important improvements.
_ Expanded POS functionality to offer financial tracking features, to help restaurant owners see sales performance in real time.
_ Iterative usability testing with restaurant partners to refine the interface and validate new features.
Restaurant owners' needs, wishes, headaches and fears.
Financial Insight Experiment
Recognising that financial tracking was a higher priority than order entry, I designed an experiment to test a lightweight financial reporting feature:
_ Over the course of a month, I sent the participating restaurant owners daily sales summaries via WhatsApp, along with a link to a detailed financial spreadsheet.
_ This has helped to validate the need for real-time financial visibility and has informed the further development of the product.
Example of image sent to restaurant owners
The enhancements
_ Using insights gained from feedback from restaurant owners, I developed functional prototypes to validate the idea and then integrated the new information into the system.
_ Through rigorous usability testing with cross-functional partners, I drove continuous design improvements that paved the way for a polished first product launch.
Financial insight integrated with the core system
Outcome & Lessons Learned
_ Through this project I strengthened my research and data analysis skills, gained expertise in stakeholder negotiation and demonstrated the value of user-centred design in shaping product strategy.
_ Despite promising insights and refinements, the POS initiative was ultimately discontinued due to a strategic shift within iFood. As a result, I moved to another team to work on a different project.
Key Takeways
_User research is essential:
Understanding the real needs of users was critical to identifying the mismatch between the original vision of the product and what restaurant owners actually needed.
_Business alignment matters:
Even with a strong UX case, strategic business decisions can override product direction, reinforcing the importance of aligning design with business goals
_Adaptability is key:
Working within changing priorities has taught me the importance of navigating uncertainty and advocacy for user needs within a business framework.
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