Case Study: POSHOst Modernizing Supplier Item Intake for Store Promotions

Role

Lead UX Designer

Overview

This project focused on modernizing a critical point-of-sale tool used by a national grocery retailer to ingest item data from suppliers and enable stores to create deals and promotions. The existing system was a mainframe-only application that was difficult to use, slow to update, and highly dependent on institutional knowledge.

As the lead UX designer, I owned the end-to-end design process, from research and concepting through validation and launch. The goal was to transition the tool to a modern graphical interface while preserving the reliability required for high-volume retail operations.

Problem

The legacy mainframe workflow created several challenges:
• Steep learning curve for new and infrequent users
• High risk of data entry errors impacting pricing and promotions
• Slow iteration due to limited visibility into user pain points
• Minimal feedback loops between business, design, and engineering

These issues directly affected the speed and accuracy with which stores could create promotions, impacting both revenue and customer experience.

My Responsibilities

As the embedded UX lead, I was responsible for:
• Planning and conducting user research with internal and supplier-facing users
• Translating complex business rules into intuitive workflows and UI patterns
• Partnering closely with product owners to interpret and refine requirements
• Working day-to-day with engineers as part of an agile delivery team
• Designing, testing, validating, and publishing the final solution

Process & Approach

Discovery & Research
I led multiple rounds of qualitative research with real users, including:
• Design Thinking workshops
• Participatory design exercises
• Journey mapping sessions
• Contextual interviews focused on existing mainframe workflows

To ensure authentic feedback, users were flown into Cincinnati on several occasions to participate in in-person research and testing sessions. I created all research plans, facilitation guides, and testing protocols.

These sessions surfaced key pain points around discoverability, error recovery, and confidence in submitted data.

Design & Iteration
The tool was redesigned as a modern graphical interface while maintaining parity with the underlying business logic of the legacy system.

Key design principles included:
• Progressive disclosure to reduce cognitive load
• Clear validation and error messaging to prevent costly mistakes
• Familiar terminology and workflows to ease adoption
• Consistent patterns aligned with other internal POS tools

By participating in agile ceremonies as an embedded designer, I was able to rapidly iterate on designs, incorporate stakeholder feedback, and validate assumptions with engineering in real time.

Testing & Validation
The solution went through multiple rounds of usability testing and user acceptance testing with the same user groups involved in discovery.

I led and facilitated:
• Task-based usability testing
• Workflow validation sessions
• Pre-launch UAT with business stakeholders

Findings were documented, prioritized, and fed directly back into the sprint cycle, allowing the team to address issues before release rather than after.

Outcome & Impact

The modernized POSHost experience delivered measurable improvements across efficiency, accuracy, and cost reduction:
• Dramatically reduced time to task
Workflows that previously took hours to complete in the mainframe system were reduced to under 10 minutes in the new graphical interface, with a 75% reduction in clicks across core tasks.
• Significant reduction in errors and waste
Improved validation, clearer workflows, and real-time feedback reduced data entry errors by 45%, directly minimizing downstream pricing and promotion issues.
• Meaningful business impact
The reduction in errors and rework led to an initial cost savings of $9 million, demonstrating the tangible financial value of investing in user-centered design for enterprise systems.

Beyond the metrics, the project increased user confidence, lowered training overhead, and established a scalable UX foundation for future POS and supplier-facing tools.

Key Takeaways
• User-centered design drives measurable business results
Grounding the redesign in real user workflows reduced task completion time from hours to under 10 minutes, cut clicks by 75%, and directly contributed to $9 million in initial cost savings.
• Modern UX can unlock value in legacy enterprise systems
Transforming a mainframe-only POS tool into a graphical interface dramatically improved usability while preserving the complex business logic required for high-volume retail operations.
• Embedded UX accelerates delivery and reduces risk
Working as an embedded designer within an agile team enabled faster iteration, earlier validation, and a 45% reduction in errors before launch.
• Early and repeated user validation prevents downstream waste
Design Thinking workshops, participatory design, and multiple rounds of user testing with real users helped identify issues early, reducing rework and operational waste.
• Clear workflows and feedback build user confidence at scale
Improved validation, error handling, and progressive disclosure empowered users to work faster, make fewer mistakes, and require less training.