NICE PRICE BOOKS & RECORDS
A Usability Pilot Test: Can You Locate Your Favorite Record For A Nice Price?
A Usability Pilot Test: Can You Locate Your Favorite Record For A Nice Price?
Nina Sarsozo ADN 200 Fall 2016
INTRODUCTION
Nice Price Books and Records is a store located at 3106 Hillsborough St, Raleigh, NC 27607. Hillsborough street is one of Raleigh’s busiest streets, as it has restaurants, coffee shops, stores, and borders NC State’s campus. Nice Price Books and Records sells both new (but mainly) used books, vinyls, CDs, cassette tapes, VHS movies, DVDs, record players, and more at really cheap and affordable prices.
However, some customers have expressed that it can be difficult to locate items in the store. A customer rated the store a 4 out of 5 stars but commented “Great prices but kinda unorganized. It’s a very dark store that looks like a book and records garage sale. Books thrown everywhere. Great staff though n good music.” (Google Reviews). This test is important because Nice Price brings in customers everyday. New customers are likely to come in since it is located on a popular and busy street.
The store is well-known in the area, but relatively new to the industry since it first started business 20 years ago. Nice Price is conveniently located between NC State and Meredith College. It is also within walking distance of many apartment complexes, houses, and dorms so many people, especially NC State students. Alumni visit the store when they are in the area. Customers are usually regulars (and if not, they usually become regulars because of the supply and really cheap prices) who have been to the store before and are familiar with the layout. If customers have a specific book, record, movie and/or album they want to purchase, they should be able to find it with ease and no problems.
This study is testing if customers can successfully find and locate a specific record they want to purchase from Nice Price Books and Records and if they have any trouble, what were the causes of some difficulties.
Task: Participants will be locating their favorite album in the store.
PROCEDURE
Sample population: All three of my participants were college students of the same general age. All three have never been to Nice Price before.
1. First I informed the participant of their task.
2. Then the participant decided which specific album they want to find.
3. At the beginning, I also notified to the participant that they will be allowed to ask a worker to help them out if they really cannot find the record, but they should try to find it on their own first.
4. To prepare for action, the participant had a genre in mind that the record is under.
5. The participant then finds their favorite record within the store.
2. Then the participant decided which specific album they want to find.
3. At the beginning, I also notified to the participant that they will be allowed to ask a worker to help them out if they really cannot find the record, but they should try to find it on their own first.
4. To prepare for action, the participant had a genre in mind that the record is under.
5. The participant then finds their favorite record within the store.
The participants were given no time limits, but each were timed to include in my results.
Based on visual cues in the store, the actions I expected them to take were: to first go to the rows of vinyls at the front of the store, find the section that the genre is located, then look for the artist’s name (which they will realize it is in alphabetical order), go to the section that is labelled by the artist’s name, then search through that section to find the record.
RESULTS
Participant 1 took a total of 3 minutes and 12 seconds to complete the task. The album participant 1 chose to locate was Ty Segall’s “Twins”. This album was located on the back side of the first row of vinyls when entering the store. Participant 1 said it was helpful that Ty Segall had his own tab, which made it very convenient to locate the record. Ty Segall’s album was organized under the New Rock/Pop genre in the vinyl section.
Participant 2 took a total of 5 minutes and 53 seconds to complete the task. The album participant 2 chose to locate was Twin Peak’s “Down in Heaven”. While looking through the store, participant 2 also looked at the table of marked down cassette tapes. Participant 2 found the album “Down in Heaven” in cassette tape form on this table. Participant 2 also found the album in vinyl form on the back side of the first aisle in Nice Price, within the ‘T” tab. Twin Peak’s album was organized under the New Rock/Pop genre in the vinyl section.
Participant 3 took a total of 5 minutes and 1 second to complete the task. Participant 3 chose to locate a John Coltrane album. The album participant 3 located was John Coltrane The Paris Concert. This album was located at the back side of the third aisle of vinyls in Nice Price. John Coltrane’s album are organized under the New Jazz genre in the vinyl section.
FINDINGS & ANALYSIS
➢ It took participants within 3 to 6 minutes to complete the task and to find the album.
➢ They spent the most time filtering through the records.
➢ All of them were interested in the other albums that they flipped through, which made the task go longer.
➢ All 3 participants went to the New Arrivals section first, then went to where their artist’s’ name was organized alphabetically.
➢ It was interesting that Participant 2 found their album in cassette form accidentally when they were just browsing the store.
➢ Participant 3 was having a hard time locating their initial album in mind, so they changed it to a different choice.
➢ When asked what confused them the most about locating the record, they said that the tabs in the vinyl section are labelled by artist’s names. However, each artist does not have their own tab. This can be confusing because then a customer could assume that the store does not carry albums by a certain artist, but it could just be hidden. If the artist of the record isn’t as well known, they didn’t have their own individual tab. They then had to go where the artist’s name would be alphabetically, in between the tabs of the more popular artists.
➢ They spent the most time filtering through the records.
➢ All of them were interested in the other albums that they flipped through, which made the task go longer.
➢ All 3 participants went to the New Arrivals section first, then went to where their artist’s’ name was organized alphabetically.
➢ It was interesting that Participant 2 found their album in cassette form accidentally when they were just browsing the store.
➢ Participant 3 was having a hard time locating their initial album in mind, so they changed it to a different choice.
➢ When asked what confused them the most about locating the record, they said that the tabs in the vinyl section are labelled by artist’s names. However, each artist does not have their own tab. This can be confusing because then a customer could assume that the store does not carry albums by a certain artist, but it could just be hidden. If the artist of the record isn’t as well known, they didn’t have their own individual tab. They then had to go where the artist’s name would be alphabetically, in between the tabs of the more popular artists.
CONCLUSION
All 3 participants were able to successfully complete the task. Signifiers in the store were genre labeling and the tabs with artist’s names. The way the store was set up gave participants clues on where to go next. The store is set up so that vinyls are located at the very front of the store. Participants followed through the aisles, making note of the genre labels for each section, and searching through each section alphabetically. Something that participants would change about the store would be to make the genre labels above the aisles instead of below so that they are more eye-level. Participant 2 noted that if the store added more artist labels within the vinyl section, it would become too cluttered. If I were to do this test again, it would be interesting to test the other sections of the store that aren’t so organized. I would like to see if it is more difficult to locate a specific book or movie in the store, since those are typically more of used items (instead of the new vinyls). Overall, the participants enjoyed this test and said that they would return back to Nice Price Books and Records for future visits and purchases.
SOURCES
Dor, Fawn. “Nice Price Books Reviews.” Google.com. Google, Sept. 2016. Web. 23 Oct. 2016.
Norman, Donald A. The Design of Everyday Things. New York: Basic, 2013. Print.
“About – Nice Price Books and Records.” Raleigh – Nice Price Books and Records. N.p., 2011. Web. 25 Oct. 2016.
Norman, Donald A. The Design of Everyday Things. New York: Basic, 2013. Print.
“About – Nice Price Books and Records.” Raleigh – Nice Price Books and Records. N.p., 2011. Web. 25 Oct. 2016.
