PeaPod Case Study

Company Background

Peapod, an Ahold Delhaize USA company, was the first online grocer in the U.S. and has delivered more than 40 million orders in its nearly 30 years of operation. With a presence in more than 24 metro areas around the U.S., Peapod is known for its intuitive website and award-winning mobile app. Peapod delivers to both homes and businesses and offers more than 200 locations where shoppers can pick up their orders.

Challenge

Andrew and Thomas Parkinson, the founders of Peapod, were pioneers of online grocery delivery as a concept in 1989—long before the internet had worked its way into every aspect of our lives. The brothers created the smart shopping solution by combining their backgrounds in consumer product marketing and technology. With this pioneering spirit, Peapod became known for its friendly, reliable service, effortless digital shopping experience, and simple meal planning tools.

As part of a commitment to accessibility, Peapod voluntarily entered into a settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). The company agreed to ensure their website and mobile app met accessibility standards according to WCAG 2.0 Levels A and AA, as well as to:

Create and implement an accessibility policy for web and mobile.
Solicit feedback from web/app visitors about accessibility.
Implement an automated accessibility testing tool.
Submit annual reports to the DOJ.

With the DOJ review in mind, Peapod’s VP of E-Commerce Development Tim Franklin was on the hunt for an accessibility partner to help them meet the September 2015 compliance deadline set by the DOJ.

Solution

Peapod needed an automated testing tool to complement audits and manual testing, so they turned to UsableNet to hit their new DOJ deadline in 2018. Working with UsableNet, Peapod was able to complete an expert audit, conduct user testing with members of the disability community and integrate the AQA Testing Platform into their DevOps. With UsableNet AQA, a cloud-based testing platform, Peapod’s entire team was able to quickly remediate issues found in the audit and user testing, and continuously test for accessibility ongoing.

Results

"Right away, the Peapod team began seeing the power of the automated testing tool and how easily teams could use it to collaborate on solutions."

On May 11, 2018, the updates were complete, and the DOJ confirrmed that Peapod was officially in compliance and had fulfilled its commitment to making all of its consumer-facing interfaces usable, functional, and accessible to shoppers of all abilities.