PRODUCT

Build a Helper Mode on noon that lets household owners delegate shopping safely without delegating control

Problem description

Problem description

Problem description

Background and context

Time is the most valuable asset for today's shoppers. Busy professionals juggle work, family, and household responsibilities often becoming the default operations manager for their homes. At noon, we already help customers save time by delivering essentials. The next leap is to remove the cognitive load of managing household orders altogether, without compromising control, security, or trust.

Personas

  1. Household Manager (Primary User)

    1. Busy professional

    2. Owns the noon account

    3. Controls payments, addresses and decisions

    4. Values trust, control and peace of mind

  2. House Help/ Nanny (Delegate User)

    1. Manages day-to-day household needs

    2. Has better context of what’s running out

    3. Needs autonomy to act, but within boundaries

Current story line

A working professional is in meetings all day. The house help notices groceries are running low. They call/message the household manager. The manager opens the noon app, searches, adds items, checks out - often distracted, sometimes forgetting items, occasionally ordering wrong quantities. This happens multiple times a week, creating friction and mental overhead - despite the intent to “save time” using ecommerce. 

Problem statement

Today, noon accounts are designed for single-user ownership, but households operate as multi-actor systems.

  • The person who knows what’s needed cannot act

  • The person who can act lacks real-time context and time

  • Workarounds (OTP sharing, screenshots, calls) are insecure and inefficient

“How might we enable safe, controlled delegation of shopping tasks - so household managers can truly offload execution without losing control ?”

What needs to be built?

Participants should imagine they are launching this as a real product at noon. Below are the core expectations :

  • A clear product vision

  • A well thought out product flows 

  • A well thought out system design 

  • A magical, intuitive UX

  • A working prototype

Key Product aspects to focus on:

  1. Scope definition

    1. Which marketplaces should this be launched for ?

    2. Which categories would benefit most ?

    3. What would be the MVP scope ?

  2. User Pain points

    1. Deeply understand the busy professional

    2. Understand the helper’s reality

  1. Product use cases - Participants should clearly explain how they’ll solve the below use cases :  

    1. Account and Identity 

      1. Separate helper login vs profiles ?

      2. How is the master-helper relationship created and revoked?

    2. Permissions and Controls

      1. What can helpers do by default ?

      2. Spend limits, category access, time windows ?

      3. Approval vs auto-order logic ?

    3. Privacy and Trust

      1. What does the helper see ?

      2. What stays hidden ?

      3. How is misuse prevented?

    4. Address Management

      1. Can helpers select addresses ?

      2. Can they edit or only choose ?

    5. Product Discovery

      1. Full catalog vs restricted ?

      2. Reorder flows vs new discovery ?

    6. Ordering journey

      1. Direct checkout vs approval flow ?

      2. What happens when limits are exceeded ?

    7. Orders and History

      1. Who sees what ?

      2. How are actions attributed ?

    8. Payments and Audit

      1. How is payment triggered ?

      2. How does the owner track helper activity ?

    9. Notifications

      1. What alerts does the owner get ?

      2. What feedback does the helper see ?

    10. Returns and Exchanges

      1. Who initiates ?

      2. Who approves ?

      3. How is accountability handled ?

  2. Success metrics - Define how you would measure success post-launch

  3. Scalability and future thinking - How does this system extend to other cohorts ?

    1. Kids

    2. Elderly parents