Assignment 25A – What’s Next?

Existing Market. 

Step 1:

What’s Next- The grocery store would expand to deliver groceries and offer cooking classes to further emphasize the products we sell. Like many grocery services out there, it would offer curbside pickup or door delivery. We would also compete to offer pre-portioned ingredients for recipes to people’s door, like Blue Apron.

Step 2:

Customer 1-

For the first question, he said “To provide non-plastic and biodegradable containers for people to store their groceries in because not everyone has containers dedicated to that.” or a discount for people who bring their own containers.

He said my ideas aren’t the best because it may cost more to deliver the groceries or offer the pre-portioned ingredients for recipes delivered.

Customer 2-

She answered the first question with “A good idea would be to sell more products that help reduce plastic waste like biodegradable plates, containers, metal straws, wax wraps. That way, people shift towards that life is they want to and it’ll all be in one place.”

She said my ideas are definitely things she’d be interested in, but it may be difficult to compete with other prominent companies like Hello Fresh or Blue Apron.

Customer 3-

She said “Maybe you can expand beyond food and sell customizable skincare, like a DIY soap/scrub bar, something more than just food.”

Her response to my ideas were that they had potential, but she thought I should stick to in store experiences if I want to focus on customer service.

Step 3:

It seems like overall, people were against the idea of grocery delivery or just delivering foods in general, which includes the prepared ingredients for recipes. Which makes sense once I step back and think about what I want my service to be. The future path would likely be including more than just food such as reusable containers, biodegradable products, metal straws (like the products from Life Unplastic in Gainesville) and having skincare or natural products that are also natural and environmentally friendly. This will include a DIY scrub bar, bar soaps, natural oil blends for your kin or for aromatherapy, men’s and women’s products alike.

The idea of expanding beyond groceries seems good in theory, but I would be very similar to Whole Foods or Fresh Market, those natural more expensive grocery stores, but I can also use the idea of being a local business to draw in customers. The benefit of including reusable containers, utensils, wax wraps and other biodegradable products is it will educate more people about the more environmentally conscious lifestyle. It may seem unapproachable, however, small changes make a huge difference on our planet. The in store customer experience has to be my focus to differentiate myself. 

New Market.

Step 1:

My radically different market would be the less affluent or very poor parts of society.

Step 2: Create value for new market

I might have to offer 2 different lines of products, just like how companies like Tide and Gain or Ariel are all from Proctor and Gamble but each one targets a different class within society. I can create 2 in store brand, both offered in the same products, but one may not be organic, but still high quality to serve for the less wealthy areas. Another possibility is having 2 versions of my store, like Walmart vs. Neighborhood Walmart.

Step 3:

New market person no. 1-

She said just simply offer cheaper products, that doesn’t mean to compromise on quality, but have a selection for people to choose from and have affordable options. An adaption she suggested is just to offer the same variety to the people, who may not be as wealthy, so they do not feel left out or are getting “the short end of the stick.” She said she tries to eat healthy and high quality ingredients, but she doesn’t want to feel like she’s being excluded by going to a completely separate store (as I suggested earlier).

New market person no. 2-

He said to just have the “more affordable” products in the same location as the other products, to blend them together. “I do not want to feel like I have to go to a corner of a store just to get more affordable foods, it should be next to the other products because I am still the same customer as any wealthy person.” he said. An adaption he suggested is to accept food stamps or work with other companies that provide food for lower income families.

Step 4:  Reflection

I learned that people want to be included even if they not be as wealthy. The people I interviewed both said they want the more affordable products to be placed in the same areas as the “organic or more expensive” foods because they do not want to feel excluded. My first assumption of including cheaper products, but not compromising on quality was correct. However, my second assumption was incorrect because I thought having a separate store targeted towards the opposite demographic group I want my customers to be, would help.

After the interviews, it’s very clear that people would just be upset if I were to make a store for “less wealthy” customers, but I can offer adaptions to my store that can make it more affordable such as accepting food stamps. It’s not impossible and people still want high quality foods for as low as a price as possible and I can drive down costs by offering many “generic, instore” brands (like how Publix has Greenwise, Target has Archer Farms). The second, new market is definitely not as attractive as my existing market, my target group because it has more constraints. People who have a tight budget and have financial difficulties have different priorities when it comes to their diet, they want to feed their family and want value for their money while the upper middle class have the flexibility/more disposable income to consider more higher quality ingredients. There are more challenges in providing organic, natural, no GMO, ethically sources ingredients that are very affordable.