Breaking into Pharma – Udaan’s UX Journey in Distributor Led Platform
PROJECT 2
Project Summary
I conducted in-person interviews to understand offline pharmacy buying behaviors and to optimize the app’s information architecture for ease of Chemists to source products through Udaan’s platform.
Responsibilities
- Exploratory Research
- Participatory Design
- Design Recommendations
- Prototype
Timeline & Team
2 weeks of in-person research with a 2 member research team, interviewing 10 Chemists in their shops.
Client: Udaan
BUSINESS LANDSCAPE
Udaan's strategic goal was to capture market share in Pharma by transitioning from the traditional "Feet on Street" (FoS) model to a more efficient digital platform.
- Bangalore served as the pilot city, where chemists heavily relied on “Feet on Street” (FoS) agents for inventory management and deliveries.
- Udaan identified an opportunity to target smaller chemist shops (Categories C and D) with 10-20k revenue per day, which lacked Enterprise Resource Planning systems and relied on manual processes, by offering a streamlined digital solution.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
To completely understand buying in Pharma, the Udaan team began the project by asking critical questions about:
- What kind of medicines are ordered? Are they based on customer requests or general stocking?
- How do buyers place orders and what expectations do they have for delivery timelines?
- What were chemists’ major obstacles when placing orders using traditional methods or online?
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The key challenge was understanding how we could replicate the experience of interacting with FoS agents through Udaan’s digital platform
Phase 1: Desk Research
Collected rich, actionable data around current app technical issues and competitive analysis
Phase 2: In-Field Study with 10 ppts
Interviews and in-context observation aimed to uncover not only the ordering behavior of chemists but also their day-to-day operations, frustrations, and reliance on FoS agents.
Phase 3: Participatory Design
USER TYPE
Introducing ‘The Opportunist Chemist’:
Focused on securing the best deals.
Raj Gupta: The Opportunist
C Category Buyer
Wants To
- Meet customer demands by having the right medicine at the right time.
- Secure the best deals for himself, especially during bulk purchases.
Key Insights
- Raj prioritizes stock availability and expiry dates when making purchasing decisions.
- He frequently buys in bulk during super deals but prefers faster delivery from other distributors for urgent requirements.
- Raj uses the Udaan app mainly for planned purchases, but issues with loading, incorrect listings, and delays reduce his reliance on the platform for urgent needs.
DESK RESEARCH
Udaan Pharma’s technical bottlenecks led to frustrating 90-second load times, creating a major roadblock to seamless user experiences.
- Navigation through screens, like medicine listing page and order forms, was hindered by persistent loading issues.
- Users reported frequent search function failures, often being redirected to the homepage and forced to restart searches.
- Incorrect product listings and discrepancies in stock availability further undermined user trust and engagement, reducing lifetime customer value.
RESEARCH FINDINGS
After identifying key pain points, I concluded that optimizing the search functionality, streamlining the return process, and improving bulk order deliveries were essential to rebuilding trust
Search Behaviour
Chemists primarily searched for medicines using drug names, but Udaan's auto-suggest feature often failed to show available products, leading to frustration.
Return Process
Chemists found Udaan's return process cumbersome, requiring them to upload invoices manually.
Bulk Orders & Delivery
Udaan’s delivery times were slower compared to competitors. Delays in bulk orders led to a decline in user trust.
EXPERIENCE DESIGN
Chemists struggled with unreliable auto-suggestions, often abandoning searches.
Stronger internal tagging was introduced to auto-suggest based on the first three letters of product names, reducing search times and boosting user confidence.
DESIGN SOLUTIONS
Chemists had difficulty discovering new medicines and promotional deals due to poor visibility on the homepage.
The homepage was redesigned to feature "Deals of the Day" and trending medicines. Predictive search and an out-of-stock alert system were also implemented to enhance product visibility and streamline the ordering process.
EXPERIENCE DESIGN
Cluttered information made it difficult for chemists to quickly access stock availability and expiry dates.
Product cards were redesigned to prioritize key information like stock availability and expiry dates, simplifying the browsing experience.
PROJECT SUMMARY
We saw an opportunity to drive engagement and improve retention through the introduction of category tiles on the homescreen … and it worked!
IN THE 90 DAYS SINCE LAUNCH OF THE SUGGESTED FEATURES
Reduction in Search Time
Increase in Order Accuracy
Increase in Bulk order Placements
What people have to say about me…
Jeannie Foulsham
UX Research Lead | ex Google & DeepMind Health | User-centred innovation and design September 18, 2024, Jeannie managed Rakshita directly Rakshita was a great asset to our team in India. She led research for several teams independently, including qualitative in person interviews, and consolidating secondary research for literature reviews. She was able to synthesise and communicate her findings effectively, enabling the team to make decisions based on her insights. The work had impact on the ongoing redesigns for Google Maps for both the core architecture and driving and navigation teams.
Miranda Levenstein
Vice President, Dining Editorial | Chase August 21, 2024, Miranda was senior to Rakshita but didn't manage Rakshita directly I had the good luck of partnering with Rakshita on an international project while I was a UX content designer at Google. Rakshita's qualitative research was critical to our redesign of an essential experience and I was so impressed by her deep empathy, user-first commitment and impactful insights. She is a wonderful collaborator and would surely be an asset to any team fortunate enough to work with her.
Thank you!
I’ve got more exciting work to share –
if you’re curious to hear about it,
let’s chat!
Rakshita Sachdev • sachdevrakshita@gmail.com • +1 484-366-8935 • https://rakshitasachdev.com/