Context
Our client is Singapore’s largest supermarket chain, serving a national customer base of nearly six million people through its retail outlets and mobile app. In recent years, a significant shift in shopping behaviour became evident: close to two million customers had started using the mobile app alongside in-store shopping.
For roughly 20% of their customers – particularly younger Singaporeans aged 18 to 35, many of whom were working professionals or young families – the app was no longer just an add-on but their primary channel for grocery shopping.
During this period, a digital-only competitor had rapidly gained traction, securing nearly a million users. Their success stemmed from a reliable and user-friendly mobile experience, and although they had no physical stores, they were steadily eroding market share. The risk was clear: if digital adoption slipped, our client risked losing long-term relevance in an increasingly app-first market.
To safeguard their position, our client recognised the need for a mobile app that could do more than facilitate transactions. It had to engage and retain loyal customers, win over new ones, encourage long-time in-store shoppers to adopt online channels – ensuring sustainable revenue growth. Achieving this required a deep understanding of evolving customer expectations and behaviours.
UXArmy task was to ensure that the app experience resonated with customer needs. This meant rapid experimentation with in-app concepts, iterative usability testing, and multiple rounds of user immersions. The ultimate objective: transform the mobile app into a growth driver and re-establish the supermarket’s leadership in Singapore’s digital retail landscape.
The Challenge
As digital grocery shopping gained momentum in Singapore, our client faced more than the task of evolving their mobile app. The real challenge was understanding and reflecting customer behaviour from shoppers’ segment who still preferred physical stores to the Millennials who needed every interaction to be mobile first. The leadership team recognised that the app could not succeed by simply adding new features; it needed to capture what customers valued most:
- The sense of trust in the brand.
- The familiarity of routines they had built over years of in-person shopping. They know the layout, the staff, the promotions, and they feel comfortable with that routine.
- The ease of walking through aisles, finding what they needed, and knowing exactly where to look for it.
The goal of translating all of those needs and preferences into a digital experience presented several challenges:
- Bringing the warmth and trust of in-store shopping into a mobile app for. Many Baby Boomers segment customers, , hesitated to go digital, unsure if the app could give them the same reliability and support they were used to at the supermarket.
- Younger, mobile-first shoppers had the opposite problem: they expected every click and swipe to be seamless, comparing the experience directly with other popular apps. And for customers already loyal to competitors, only a noticeably better experience could convince them to switch.
In the spectrum of expectations, one thing became clear: there was no room for clunky afterthought app design. A confusing Voucher system, a slow checkout, or even one frustrating user flow could quickly turn customers away from the app.
For the client, the challenge wasn’t just about building features, it was about making sure every update reflected what people really needed, so trust and loyalty carried over naturally from the physical store into the digital world.
Having partnered with the client for over three years now, UXArmy has become more than a vendor; we are a trusted user experience research ally. Our role is to help the client navigate the digital shift with confidence by setting up rapid, reliable research cycles: uncovering real customer needs through interviews with diverse user profiles, validating design choices with prototype, website, and mobile app testing, and ensuring that every new feature not only enhanced usability but also strengthened customer loyalty and business growth.
Our Approach
UXArmy’s approach was built around three pillars: agility, quality of participants and user feedback. The client needed answers quickly without compromising on quality. We suggested a research process that combined in-depth user interviews to uncover customer needs combined with iterative usability testing to validate solutions, ensuring that every design decision was rooted in evidence rather than assumptions.
The research began with user interviews across diverse customer profiles:
- Younger professionals who expected seamless, mobile-first experiences.
- Older shoppers (50 to70 years) who were more comfortable with physical stores.
- Competitor-loyal users.
These conversations revealed not just surface-level preferences but the deeper motivations, frustrations, and expectations shaping how different groups approached grocery shopping. For the client, it became a foundation for design, helping them map out a clear roadmap of features and improvements, prioritised by both criticality and user importance.
Participant recruitment was critical to succeed. We worked with the client to carefully screen participants, ensuring a balance of demographics, shopping behaviours, and device types (iOS and Android, various screen sizes). This way, results reflected the real diversity of the customer base.
Based on interview insights, the product team created multiple design concepts. UXArmy then conducted unmoderated usability studies to test them.
- Tests were run in short cycles (1.5–2 weeks).
- Prototypes and app flows were iterated continuously based on feedback.
- The process made it possible to move quickly without losing quality.
To ensure quality of feedback, our team thoroughly reviewed every response. If feedback was vague or irrelevant, the response was replaced with backup participants from the same profile. The outcome was a streamlined, high-quality insight pipeline: within the first week, the client had directional feedback to act on, and within two weeks they had clear evidence to guide design decisions with confidence.
Outcome
Through this partnership, the client not only improved individual features, such as Voucher application, Loyalty program and smoother Checkout, but also established a research-driven culture that significantly increased the revenue from digital business. Insights from interviews provided the product team with a clearer understanding of customer needs across various age groups and shopping habits.
1M+ downloads: The app crossed a major milestone on Google Play, moving from niche adoption to mass-market penetration.
50% faster development cycles: Research and iteration timelines were reduced to 1.5 – 2 weeks per design round, compared to the earlier times which needed 6 – 8 weeks for testing.
Checkout drop-off reduced by ~20%, based on real time app data.
Most importantly, the app evolved into more than just a shopping tool:
- It became a channel for retention, keeping long-time shoppers engaged.
- It converted hesitant offline shoppers into confident digital users.
- It provided a credible alternative to competitor apps, helping the brand defend and grow market share.
The Bigger Picture
The impact of this research-driven approach extends well beyond individual feature launches. Over the years, the client’s mobile app has become a cornerstone of their digital retail strategy, earning the trust of shoppers.
This transformation has also been recognised externally. In 2025, the client won the LogiSYM Awards – Best Supply Chain Innovator and the Singapore Business Review Technology Excellence Award, reflecting not just operational excellence but also their ability to innovate and lead in the digital space.
Customer feedback about the mobile app tells the story just as vividly.
In 2019, reviews reflected user frustration and disappointment:
Fast forward to recent times, the same app is earning praise from users who find it far more intuitive and dependable.
The progression from mixed reviews to positive acclaim reflects not only technology upgrade but also a deeper shift toward a customer-first mindset. With UXArmy as their research partner, the client is able to uncover real customer needs, validate design decisions with evidence, and eliminate usability roadblocks that once frustrated users. This partnership helps transform the app from a functional tool into a trusted daily companion driving loyalty, accelerating growth, and ultimately earning industry-wide recognition.
