Grocery Fairy

Problem Statement  

How might we make shopping for indigenous and international groceries easier?

Problem background  

Struggling to purchase the ingredients of your local meal from back home? You finally found a store after driving far from your home, only to be told they do not have one or more items on your list? You definitely are not alone in this struggle.

According to Ethan Sakler, in the article they wrote for the IOWA international programs publication, ‘Food in a new country: Tips for adjusting’ food is life,  food is culture,  food is home.  It’s not until we’re away from home that we realize how important food is to our well-being.  But not just any food.  The food we know” 

There is a very high influx of Immigrants and international students to Canada. Canada statistics recorded that Canada welcomed 405,000 newcomers in 2022. It is projected that 465,000, 485,000 and 500,000 newcomers will be welcomed in 2023, 2024 and 2025 respectively.

With this data, the demand for local ingredients and meals will continue to increase yearly as new immigrants arrive in Canada.

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Research Insights

User Pain Points

Using Linkedin and Whatsapp groups, a few different categories of prospective users were identified and over 13 user questionnaires were issued and responded to. 

The focus was on the ease of finding items in one store.

 66.7% of respondents agreed that they are usually not able to get all that they need in one store. It was also found that sometimes you get something different from what you ordered in both quality and appearance.

The main take away point according to this research is that immigrants and international students spend quality time and effort on sourcing for their preferred grocery items which can eventually lead to the loss of appetite for local meals and a lot of distractions due to homesickness.

It is therefore important to address this problem to enhance productivity and preservation of culture.

Landing on the Solution 

Grocery Fairy is designed in a way that, with the use of the search box, users can find, order, and get their items delivered.

Due to the short timeline, I focused on the MVP and prioritized 4 key features that will be valuable to the early adopters.

1. Unique food profile: A food avatar is created for users based on their unique taste in food. This information is gotten during sign up.
2. The search button: This is the key feature of the app. Here, items are searched for, and a drop-down of stores that carry these items auto-populate.
3. Featured stores: These are local stores in the users vicinity that carry these choice items. We, through partnership with local stores, procure these items and ship directly to customers.
4. Recommendation feature: There will be a pop up to recommend various items based on users last purchase. 
   

User Flows/Mockups

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Future Steps

I intend to bring this App to life with a team of designers and engineers. If given the appropriate resources needed to actualize and execute this plan, it would be a dream come through.