Surabaya – Digital transformation in grocery shopping is entering a new phase. Musfi Yuliadi and Ahmad Rusdiansyah from Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) have developed a WhatsApp-based e-grocery service to address the growing issue of slow and complicated online shopping systems. Published in 2026 in the International Journal of Scientific Multidisciplinary Research (IJSMR), the study reveals that a simpler chat-based approach can significantly improve user experience.
E-grocery services have grown rapidly since the COVID-19 pandemic pushed consumers toward digital shopping. The study notes that around 60 percent of Indonesian consumers intend to continue buying groceries online even after the pandemic. Search trends for vegetables and staple foods also surged by as much as 90 percent, reflecting a major shift in shopping behavior.
The research focused on Pasarmu.id, an e-grocery platform that experienced a 50 percent drop in daily transactions after upgrading from version 1.0 to version 2.0. Daily orders fell from 20 to only 10 after the new system was introduced. The decline was not caused by product quality, but by user frustration with the platform’s complexity.
Musfi Yuliadi and Ahmad Rusdiansyah found that many customers returned to manually contacting customer service via WhatsApp instead of using the official platform. This behavior became the foundation for redesigning the service using a design thinking approach.
Conducted from September to December 2023, the study involved 35 active Pasarmu.id customers through in-depth interviews and direct observation. Most respondents were women, accounting for 94.29 percent, while 82.86 percent were millennials. This demographic strongly values time efficiency, especially as many balance professional and domestic responsibilities.
The study identified several key issues with the old platform. It took one to two minutes just to load the homepage. Product searches required exact spelling, and password reset functions often failed to send OTP codes. These small barriers were enough to discourage users from completing transactions.
Using design thinking, the researchers redesigned the system by integrating a rule-based WhatsApp chatbot directly connected to the web-order platform. Customers can now simply send a message and receive a shopping link instantly.
Testing results showed dramatic improvements. Transition time from chat to checkout dropped to under three seconds, compared to up to two minutes on the previous platform. All productive-age users in the trial reported that the WhatsApp-based system felt more practical and convenient than a standalone application.
One standout innovation was the system’s phonetic search robustness. This allows the chatbot to recognize misspelled product names. For example, typing “Caysim” still correctly matches “Cesim.” According to the researchers, this feature is essential for reducing user frustration and maintaining transaction flow.
Musfi Yuliadi explained that the success of this system proves technology does not need to be complex to be effective. In MSME-driven grocery services, user comfort matters more than advanced technical features. Ahmad Rusdiansyah added that WhatsApp was chosen because it is already integrated into the daily lives of more than 118 million Indonesians.
The findings carry important implications for digital business development, especially for MSMEs. Integrating shopping services with familiar communication platforms can increase customer loyalty, speed up transactions, and build stronger trust. This model could also be adapted for pharmacies, local food distribution, and small-scale retail.
For the technology sector, this research reinforces the idea that human-centered innovation is more likely to succeed than feature-heavy systems. In today’s competitive digital market, speed, simplicity, and familiarity remain the key to winning user trust.
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