PricyTag — In-Store Mobile Price Comparison Engine
PricyTag — In-Store Mobile Price Comparison Engine
Project Overview
PricyTag helps you shop smarter by comparing prices across sellers, finding coupons, and saving your favorite products in one place. Scan a barcode to instantly look up items, see price differences, and make better buying decisions fast.
PricyTag helps you shop smarter by comparing prices across sellers, finding coupons, and saving your favorite products in one place. Scan a barcode to instantly look up items, see price differences, and make better buying decisions fast.
Year
2026
Client
PricyTag
Services
Ecommerce
[1] Problem Statement
Smart shoppers suffer from app fatigue. When looking for the best deal, a user typically has to jump between a barcode scanner app, Google Shopping, a coupon aggregator, and their native notes app to save items. This fragmentation causes high friction, leading to abandoned purchasing decisions in-store.
UX Goal
Reducing shopping anxiety and fragmented tool usage (switching apps for coupons vs. comparison).Business Goal
Driving high-intent traffic to retail partners via a unified utility tool.
Smart shoppers suffer from app fatigue. When looking for the best deal, a user typically has to jump between a barcode scanner app, Google Shopping, a coupon aggregator, and their native notes app to save items. This fragmentation causes high friction, leading to abandoned purchasing decisions in-store.
UX Goal
Reducing shopping anxiety and fragmented tool usage (switching apps for coupons vs. comparison).Business Goal
Driving high-intent traffic to retail partners via a unified utility tool.
[2] Action — The Research Phase
We conducted contextual inquiries (observing 12 users shopping in brick-and-mortar retail environments) and ran a quantitative survey.
Micro-Moments of Friction (The Discovery)
My research revealed two massive psychological and environmental roadblocks that standard comparison apps ignore:
The Checkout Anxiety (Speed Constraint): Users standing in a store aisle feel a ticking clock. If a barcode scan takes longer than 3 seconds to process, or if the data is dense and hard to read, they abandon the app and simply buy the item at the retail price out of convenience.
The Trust Deficit (Security Constraint): When PricyTag displays an online retailer that is $15 cheaper, users hesitate if they don't recognize the merchant. They ask: "Is this site safe? Will it deliver on time?"
We conducted contextual inquiries (observing 12 users shopping in brick-and-mortar retail environments) and ran a quantitative survey.
Micro-Moments of Friction (The Discovery)
My research revealed two massive psychological and environmental roadblocks that standard comparison apps ignore:
The Checkout Anxiety (Speed Constraint): Users standing in a store aisle feel a ticking clock. If a barcode scan takes longer than 3 seconds to process, or if the data is dense and hard to read, they abandon the app and simply buy the item at the retail price out of convenience.
The Trust Deficit (Security Constraint): When PricyTag displays an online retailer that is $15 cheaper, users hesitate if they don't recognize the merchant. They ask: "Is this site safe? Will it deliver on time?"
[3] Action — The Design Phase
The final interface applies an accessibility-compliant, conversion-focused color system.
Core Screen Design Choices:
The Scanner Screen: Zero UI clutter. A clean camera viewport with an overlaid scanning bracket. Haptic feedback fires instantly upon a successful barcode match, eliminating visual guesswork.
The Results Engine: Prices are tiered hierarchically from lowest to highest. Merchants are tagged with a "Trust Score" (e.g., 4.8★ via Google/Trustpilot) and an escrow safety badge to solve the Trust Deficit.
The final interface applies an accessibility-compliant, conversion-focused color system.
Core Screen Design Choices:
The Scanner Screen: Zero UI clutter. A clean camera viewport with an overlaid scanning bracket. Haptic feedback fires instantly upon a successful barcode match, eliminating visual guesswork.
The Results Engine: Prices are tiered hierarchically from lowest to highest. Merchants are tagged with a "Trust Score" (e.g., 4.8★ via Google/Trustpilot) and an escrow safety badge to solve the Trust Deficit.
[4] The Testing & Iteration Phase
By treating the in-store environment as a high-stress, low-time user scenario, we tailored the UI to be highly glanceable. Testing the finalized high-fidelity prototype yielded a System Usability Scale (SUS) score of 84.5, placing it in the "Excellent" tier.
By treating the in-store environment as a high-stress, low-time user scenario, we tailored the UI to be highly glanceable. Testing the finalized high-fidelity prototype yielded a System Usability Scale (SUS) score of 84.5, placing it in the "Excellent" tier.
[5] Reflection & Next Steps
UX doesn't exist in a vacuum. By identifying the exact point of user friction (Trust and Speed) and designing explicitly to ease those anxieties, we directly influenced the app's monetization model—proving that good design architecture is a measurable revenue driver
UX doesn't exist in a vacuum. By identifying the exact point of user friction (Trust and Speed) and designing explicitly to ease those anxieties, we directly influenced the app's monetization model—proving that good design architecture is a measurable revenue driver
