Dollar General
An audit of the app, website and stores showing where a value retailer's savings promise breaks.
- Context
- A live engagement through Merkle, dentsu. Phase 1 of an ongoing evaluation.
- Problem
- Value retail runs on one promise: you'll save money here. Does that promise survive the real experience in the app, on the web and in the aisle?
- My role
- Heuristic evaluation, competitive analysis with timed real-world shopping tasks, and in-store research.
- Outcome
- Showed that the savings promise holds up, but broken moments in the journey wear down shoppers' trust, and set out where the experience can win.
- Client / Org
- Dollar General (via Merkle, dentsu)
- Timeline
- Ongoing, Phase 1
- Year
- 2026
CX EvaluationHeuristic EvaluationCompetitive Analysis
Who it has to work for
For these shoppers, a failed coupon is a real money problem.
Dollar General shoppers are value-conscious, often rural and mobile-first. For them savings are the budget, not a bonus, so a coupon that fails at the till is a real financial problem, not an inconvenience.
How I approached it
Three lenses: the app, the market, the aisle.
A heuristic evaluation of the app and website, a benchmark against value and mass retailers, and research inside the stores, triangulated into one finding and four strategic directions.
Under NDA
The rest is best told over coffee.
This project is under a non-disclosure agreement, so the full story isn’t public. I’m happy to walk you through it, the decisions and the work, in person or on a call.
What’s inside
- Heuristic evaluation
- Annotated app screens
- Competitive benchmark
- In-store research
- The shopper’s emotional journey
- The main issue
- Four strategic directions
- Eight concepts
