Time-Sensitive Grocery Substitution Approval
Design a shopper-to-customer approval flow for unavailable groceries with price, quantity, dietary, and response-window context.
The brief
Understand the problem
Background
A grocery shopper may discover an unavailable item only minutes before checkout. Customers need enough information to approve a replacement, while shoppers cannot wait indefinitely or make unsafe dietary assumptions.
User context
Renee ordered lactose-free milk and a 500 gram cereal box. Her shopper finds a different milk brand and only a larger cereal size, with twelve minutes left before checkout.
Product problem
Renee needs to evaluate replacements quickly, and the shopper needs a clear fallback when she does not respond.
Objective
Create substitution preferences, item comparison, timed approval, and final review for an active grocery shop.
What to design
Define the experience
Required experience
- Set per-item replace, refund, or contact preferences
- Receive a time-bound substitution request
- Compare original and proposed product details
- Approve, decline, or rely on a clearly stated fallback
Screens and states
- Order substitution preferences
- Live substitution request
- Product comparison
- Final substituted order review
Core user flow
Follow the critical path
- 01
Renee receives a request for the milk and cereal
- 02
She confirms the milk after comparing ingredients and unit price
- 03
She declines the larger cereal because it exceeds her item limit
- 04
The shopper refunds the cereal and checks out with a documented change summary
Product rules
Requirements and constraints
Requirements
- Show original and proposed size, quantity, price, unit price, and product evidence
- Carry dietary settings forward without asserting safety
- Display the response deadline and exact no-response fallback
- Allow customers to preapprove bounded price or brand changes
- Keep shopper and customer decisions in the order history
Constraints
- The proposed replacement can sell out during review
- Product catalog data may be incomplete
- A shopper cannot override a customer allergy restriction
Reality check
States worth considering
Finish line
What to deliver
- Four mobile screens covering approval and refund outcomes
- A comparison card for size, unit price, dietary evidence, and response timing
If you want more
Optional extensions
Optional direction
Visual resources
Use these as a starting constraint if you want one. They are not part of the required solution.