Gender: Male
Age: 19
Location: Darlington, NSW
Occupation: Student living in student accommodation
Nationality: China
Gender: Female
Age: 21
Location: Marrickville, NSW
Occupation: House-dwelling student skilled in cooking
Nationality: Mexico
Motivations:
Motivations:
Frustrations:
Frustrations:
Ideal Experience/Goals/Aspirations/Feelings:
Ideal Experience/Goals/Aspirations/Feelings:
Save money.
Alleviate the burden of shopping and cooking.
Focus on academics.
Reduce living expenses.
Continue preparing delicious Mexican dishes.
Share food with friends.
Busy academic and social life, limited time.
Difficulty in planning grocery shopping and cooking.
High cost of dining out and take out.
Large packaging of supermarket ingredients.
Distant supermarkets necessitate storing ingredients for extended periods.
Seeking discounts and budget-friendly living.
To be able to easily purchase affordable and accessible ingredients.
Enjoy delicious homemade meals without worrying about time and money.
To purchase cost-effective and appropriately portioned ingredients.
Maintain the preparation of authentic Mexican dishes.
Feel satisfied and joyful when sharing food.
Wang Xiaoming is an international student currently in his first year of college. As a first- time student abroad, he has chosen to live in student accommodation close to his university.
While he is not skilled in cooking, the high cost of dining out and ordering takeout in Australia often leads him to prepare his own meals. However, due to a hectic academic schedule, he rarely has time to go grocery shopping.
She is a student studying in Sydney, skilled in cooking and capable of preparing authentic Mexican dishes. However, due to the large packaging of supermarket ingredients and the distance to the grocery store, the purchased ingredients often need to be stored in the refrigerator for several days before being fully consumed. She is interested in saving money and finding discounts, pursuing an economical lifestyle. She enjoys socializing and is willing to share her homemade dishes with others.
Wangxiaoming
Maria
"I hope to find a cost-effective way to manage my expenses amidst the demanding academic life while enjoying delicious food without the hassle of shopping and cooking."
"I aspire to lower my cost of living while continuing to create delectable Mexican dishes and sharing them with friends."
Stakeholder Map
In the proposed solution, the figure on the right shows the relevant stakeholders. The supermarkets are our main partners in this programme. Customers, supermarket staff, suppliers and supermarket management will be the primary users of the system.
Other third parties such as regulators, IT service providers, etc. are secondary stakeholders and will be indirectly affected.
Competitor Analysis
Design Solution
User Testing
Introduction
The world's economic and political turmoil has resulted in increased pressure on people in all countries in recent years as the cost of living has risen and the pressure to survive has increased (Carstens, 2022). Australia, as an economy deeply involved in the world economy, has been significantly affected. People who study, live and work in Australia are anxious about the high cost of living and the uncertainty of the future.
For Australian university students, living expenses, especially on food, are causing worries beyond their studies (Wicklow, 2022). Rising spending on food has placed a significant financial burden on students. Students are forced to alleviate this burden at the expense of their health or time by lowering their dietary standards, seeking additional income, and changing their eating habits. In the process, students' academic lives are disrupted and their stress levels increase (Wicklow, 2022).
In order to change this situation, through the research and discussion in the previous assignments, we have learnt more about the group of university students who live and cook independently in Australia, including their consumption level, living habits, eating habits and so on.
We believe that a major controllable factor contributing to their rising cost of living is that the existing food procurement model is not suitable for people who live independently and cook for themselves.
Through the human centred design process, this report will present the potential solution for the following question:
How might we reduce the cost of living pressures in food for solitary university students in Australia?
Research
User Persona
Iteration
Final Design
University students have flexible schedules
They are more price sensitive
They have enerally weak transportability
They buy less of a single food category
They are more familiar with electronics and digital services
They will have a lot of impulse spending and a small number of people are used to making shopping plans
In Group Buying, Consumers don't have to negotiate directly with merchants(Lozic et al., 2021)
The supermarket has information advantage from deep integration with local merchants (Arabshahi, 2010)
The Group Buying platform is easy to use (Arabshahi, 2010)
The existing platform need to order online, the platform will take a cut of the sales(Ong et al., 2019)
Online third party platform means inability to do real-time inventory-based data updates(Wu et al., 2015)
Store Managers
Primary
Secondary
Partner
Supermarket
Supplier
Customer
Employee
Shareholders
Regulator
IT Service Providers
other supermarkets
Government
Food Institution
After the previous stage of investigation and research, we believe that the main reason for the current high pressure on the cost of living of students who live independently and cook for themselves in terms of food purchases is the limitations of the existing food procurement model, which does not meet students’ requirements for cost-effectiveness and schedule, and makes it difficult to maximize the service for the students’ level of consumption and living habits (eating habits).
To address this issue, we propose a flexible group-buying model that works both offline and online.
This group-buying model is mainly utilized to increase the purchase volume to reduce the price of food. Consumers provide a commitment to purchase in exchange for effective control of the supermarket's purchase volume, in exchange for large-scale supply from suppliers, and ultimately get a discount on the price of a particular product.
Group buying shopping process
Supermarket aspect: Preparation
1. Strengthening Supply Chain Control:
• Conduct detailed analysis of food commodities, including understanding the growth cycles and production areas of each product.
• Collaborate with suppliers who have stable supply channels and strong capacities. Encourage these suppliers to adopt a group-buying model, which lowers purchase costs through bulk buying while ensuring supplier profitability, fostering a win-win relationship.
2. Real-Time Data Management:
• Ensure interoperability of group-buying, inventory, and procurement data in real-time to avoid potential losses due to information delays.
3. Increasing Consumer Awareness:
• Promote the new group-buying options through supermarket campaigns using flyers, banners, slogans, posters, and product labels, aiming to make consumers aware of the group-buying option throughout their shopping experience.
• Place group-buy logging devices near relevant shelves to allow consumers to scan items and add them directly to their shopping carts.
• Emphasize that group-buy discounts only activate when a sufficient number of buyers participate, and no discount applies if the required number is not met.
Consumer Aspect: Shopping Process
1. Entering the Supermarket:
Upon arrival, consumers can identify group-buyable items by a group-buying icon on the product label. By scanning the QR code on the nearby group-buying recording device, they will access details about the group-buying option, such as:
• The number of current participants
• Estimated waiting time
• Group-buy price
The selected item will be automatically added to the shopping cart, awaiting confirmation.
2. Confirmation Screen:
At the confirmation stage, consumers must log in using their phone number, email, or membership card to add the group-buy item to their final checkout list. This step also ensures they receive follow-up notifications about the group-buy.
3. Checkout Process:
At the checkout counter, consumers pay for both regular items and group-buy products. They have the option to add or remove group-buy items before completing the payment. Post-purchase, group-buy product details will appear on the invoice and will be sent to the consumer via SMS or email.
4. Notification and Pickup:
When the group-buy reaches the required number of participants, the consumer will be notified via SMS or email. The merchant provides a one-week window for product pickup, with pickup appointments to be scheduled at least one day in advance. No refunds will be issued if the product is not picked up within the scheduled timeframe or if no reservation is made.
5. Unsuccessful Group-Buy:
If the group-buy fails to reach the required number of buyers, consumers will be notified by SMS or email and offered a refund option. Refunds can be processed either offline or as a credit back to the member’s account.
Product with Group Option
Scan Barcode
Show Group Purchase Option
Automatically Added to Shopping Cart
Confirmation
Log In
Collecting
Check Out
Double-check
Make Payments
Finish Shopping
Receive Notification
Make Reservation for Pickup (Group Buy Successful) / Get Refund (Group Buy Failed)
Process of GROUP DISCOUNT
Sketch of the interface
SCAN ITEMS
TO JOIN A
GROUP
LOGIN
THE
SYSTEM
INFORMATION
OF GROUP
PURCHASES
ITEMS
PAY FOR CURRENT PURCHASE AND
GROUP DISCOUNT ITEMS
Iteration of the logo
Iteration of the Interface
GROUP DISCOUNT
GROUP DISCOUNT
The survey indicates our system has hit its targets, with user satisfaction high regarding the interface and hardware. We've streamlined the interface, shifting from complex to intuitive buttons. However, users report longer shopping times than expected, prompting us to simplify the group-buy feature, allowing one-click queue joining at checkout. A highlight has been the clear display of the group-buy's expected wait time, enhancing transparency in our product cycle.
Easy
Confuse but still work
hard
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
Do you think the operation of our system ( include software and hardware) is easy for you?
Does our estimated group buying success date help you decide to participate in group buy?
Is our screen operation interface intuitive and concise?
Did using our system cause your shopping to take longer than you expected?
76.5%
58.8%
35.3%
82.4%
17.6%
64.7%
23.5%
29.4%
11.8%
The user testing phase for customers, primarily targeting students who cook for themselves, focused on evaluating the usability of the group-buying interface. We observed how users interacted with the system without guidance to assess its intuitiveness and ease of use. User feedback on the interface and purchasing process was continuously gathered to inform improvements. Additionally, a survey collected customers’ initial impressions, focusing on the system’s potential to reduce living costs and its suitability for widespread adoption. This data will guide further refinements to enhance the user experience.
RECEIPT AND EMAIL WITH GROUP PURCHASE DETAILS WILL BE SENT
GO TO THE CHECKOUT MACHINE TO MAKE PAYMENT
SCAN THE ITEMS
ADD TO THE CART
LOGIN
ADD THE LIST INTO CART
AUTOMAT-
ICALLY
PAY FOR THE GROUP DISCOUNT LIST
BACK TO THE LIST
LOGIN WITH PERSONAL DETIALS
SAVE THE LIST FOR GROUP DISCOUNT
GROUP DISCOUNT LIST
LOGIN
SAVE THE LIST
CHECKOUT MACHINE
LOGIN WITH THE SAME INFORMATION
DOUBLE CHECK THE LIST
MAKE PAYMENT
Logo & Home Button
Card Insertion
Scanner
3D model
Wireframe
Touch Screen
Through primary research and secondary research, we learnt about the eating habits, consumption habits and living patterns of the student population, and also analysed the group purchasing pattern.
Groupon
Meituan
Groupon is the pioneer of group buying as a business model(Hughes & Beukes, 2012). It pioneered social activity-led promotions, whereby merchants are persuaded to make concessions through collective bargaining to gain access to a wider consumer base. Groupon has gradually launched and integrated payment services(Odeniyi et al., 2015), delivery services(Snyder, 2021) and other related business services, making itself a diversified e-commerce platform.
Meituan is the largest group-buying service platform in the Chinese market, and its main group-buying models include the online coupon offline consumption model and the online ordering and delivery model (Snyder, 2021).
Meituan's preferential policies for small and medium-sized enterprises have broken down the barriers between consumers and independent merchants and increased economic vitality(Hosen, 2020). .
Strengths of Group Buying
Consumers don't have to negotiate directly with merchants(Lozicet al., 2021)
Information advantage from deep integration with local merchants(Arabshahi, 2010)
Easy to use (Arabshahi, 2010)
Favouring the development of sole trader
Enhance corporate brand awareness
Challenges of Group Buying
Need to order online, the platform will take a cut of the sales(Ong et al., 2019)
WYSIWYG is not possible(Boulay et al., 2014)
Inability to do real-time inventory-based data updates(Wu et al., 2015)
Platform-led rather than merchant- led
Consumers can't get disconnected from online services
Through literature research and case studies, we have gained a better understanding of the use cases of the group-buying
model and have analysed the strengths and weaknesses of existing group-buying platforms based on the research data
Primary Research Key Insights
Secondary Research Key Insights