What if ordering your morning coffee did not require a cashier? The Luckin Coffee U.S. (iOS app) turns the entire ordering process into a cashier-less digital experience. Users can choose a store, browse the menu, apply offers, pay in the app, and pick up their order, making the interface an integral part of the ordering experience.
HOMEPAGE
The Home page introduces users to Luckin’s digital ordering system. Several introductory entry points, including promotional content, offers, new products, and ads, create strong visibility.
The page also has a clear Call to Action ( CTA ) label (i.e., Order now) and a Menu tab accessible from the bottom navigation, giving users two clear paths to navigate the menu and order, which is the primary goal. In Norman’s terms, both of them are strong signifiers, as they effectively communicate what will happen if they are selected. The bottom navigation also supports discoverability because it remains constant at the bottom, as per industry standards.
These CTA labels also reduce Norman’s Gulf of Execution, as they are clearly labeled. However, the page has many promotional ads, which make it visually busy and disrupt the overall home page’s visual hierarchy.
MENU
The particularly long menu is well structured, with groupings that create a clearer information hierarchy. Instead of scanning the full list at once, the groupings help users take a first step toward their selection. A sidebar organizes this data, allowing users to navigate directly.
Within each menu category, the list has clear images, names, prices, and item details, highlighting the knowledge in the world. They can use this as a reference to recognize items rather than recall them. They don’t need to memorize their preferences from Luckin’s menu or know the exact name of the item before ordering. They can use this to identify appealing items and move forward with ordering. These category navigation and product cards reduce cognitive load and make multiple pieces of information easier for the user to process.
CUSTOMIZATION
On this page, users can customize their item with specific choices. Options such as espresso options and milk are grouped by what they change aligning with user’s mental models. Along with clear option mappings and feedback on what happens when the user selects an option, this page also shows constraints with feedback explaining why they exist. For example, in the milk option for the iced velvet latte, the milk base with 3 pumps has a disabled (-) reduce sign. Once tapped, it shows a pop-up saying this is the minimum for this particular drink. The feedback communicates the reason well, so the user no longer has to guess the constraint, improving their usability experience.
CHECKOUT
This page’s interface has a responsibility to answer an important question: “Is this what I actually intend to order?”
By bringing key order information onto one page, it clearly shows the pickup location, selected products, quantities, customizations, prices, offers, and added vouchers, along with a CTA button to proceed to checkout. This reviewing/confirming state provides feedback on all the steps the user took to build their order and shortens the evaluation gap. This step also helps users to prevent errors and proceed with confidence.
REORDER
Does “reorder” mean repeat?
As per the conceptual model, the reorder feature is interpreted as a repeat order. The user understands this label to be associated with a system of repeating their order and all aspects of that order- quantity, size, customizations, as well as the location being the same. However, the Luckin app lets the user repeat the order but connects it to the nearest location instead of keeping the original order location, creating this error. The user here does not intentionally choose the wrong store; they intend to reorder and select the correct action but overlook the system’s change. Norman calls this a slip that often happens at the bottom of the action cycle.
CONCLUSION
The Luckin app is aiming to be more than just a digital cashier. It is the central hub that moves users from selecting drinks and ordering to returning again and again to explore more. Thus including a lot of gamification in terms of offers and rewards that are accompanied by microinteractions encouraging users to return beyond a single purchase. In this gamified experience, the app gives users feedback like “you have earned a free drink” and introduces opportunities for engagement rather than focusing on a single usability goal.