city'super — Ran Konaka

Designing A Sustainable Shopping Experience

Guiding city’super Taiwan to better showcase their ESG efforts to increase customer trust and satisfaction

CLIENT city’super Taiwan in a partnership with Far Eastern Group

Challenge

Explore effective strategies for communicating city'super's previous ESG efforts within the store, while simultaneously innovating approaches to promote a diverse spectrum of sustainability initiatives. These initiatives can encompass food safety, health, agri-food education, community-supported agriculture, and the farm-to-table concept. It is crucial to achieve these goals without compromising city'super's globally shared brand guidelines(Hong Kong, Shanghai) or demanding an extensive allocation of space.

Solution

While our clients initially sought a series of ideas for store implementation and marketing strategies, we concluded that guiding city'super to formulate and execute their design strategies on their own was crucial. As we were to step away from this project after six weeks, we opted to offer them four Design Directives as guiding principles, accompanied by numerous idea samples and physical and digital prototypes for short-term, mid-term, and long-term implementation.

city'super is a premium supermarket chain with establishments in Hong Kong and Taiwan, offering an array of top-tier groceries and specialty items sourced globally. Their contemporary and sophisticated stores cater to discerning customers who prioritize quality and uniqueness during their shopping experiences.

Sustainability is becoming a crucial component of city'super Taiwan's strategy. The rise in government-mandated ESG initiatives has prompted numerous supermarkets, including city'super's competitors, to intensify their commitment to environmental and social responsibilities.

However, through interactions with city'super shoppers, a noticeable trend emerged—many perceive city'super primarily as "a destination for purchasing imported goods." Given the high carbon footprint associated with imported products, shoppers struggle to associate city'super with sustainability.

Driven by a strong desire to cultivate sustainable shopping practices and realize their ESG objectives, city'super is committed to nurturing shoppers' trust. This trust, in turn, serves as a catalyst for heightened customer loyalty and increased sales.

This project was guided by well-defined constraints. The first constraint involved harnessing the potential of their existing products within their fruit category such as mangoes. The second pertained to the limited number of stores and geographical confines: a mere 8 stores, all situated within central Taipei; the challenge lies in managing the costs associated with high rents and optimizing the limited available space to accommodate their sustainability initiatives effectively.

How might we strategically design enhanced sustainability features for city'super's business and shoppers’ experience, all while navigating the constraints of their product focus and the confined space within their limited number of stores?

Role

Design Strategist,
Design Researcher,
Illustrator

Collaborators

Adelyn Soetyono
Bruce Liao
Pranjal Shah
William Rutter

Supervisor

Martin Thaler
(Institute of Design)

Nigel Antony
(Far Eastern Group)

Partner

Far Eastern Group (DRIVE), Taipei

Project Duration

May-June 2023 (in Taipei)

Outcome

Four Design Directives that guide city’super in implementing sustainable shopping experiences

Through an extensive process of field research and shopper interviews, we pinpointed shoppers’ unmet needs that we strongly suggest city'super should address to propel its sustainability efforts. Our main deliverable was four design directives which are purposefully designed to empower city'super in conceptualizing and implementing future initiatives autonomously, thereby ensuring a precise alignment with shoppers' needs.

“Show and direct me to a selection of curated products”
“Show me how the process makes this produce special”
“Show me how sustainably I’m shopping and how I can do more”
“I want personalized ways to bring sustainability into my life”

Shoppers’ Needs

Signposting to champion a rotating selection of curated products
Connecting process and product tangibly and transparently
Provide dynamic feedback to support sustainable shopping decisions
Create occasions for sharing sustainability with friends and family

Design Directives

In order to illustrate the practical application of these directives, we additionally provided city'super with concrete examples of our ideas that harmonize with each directive. This serves as a tangible demonstration of how the directives can be effectively utilized in shaping and realizing innovative initiatives.

Signposting to champion a rotating selection of curated products

Design Directive 1:

Our research revealed shoppers' desire for increased sustainable shopping, looking to city’super as a premium brand to assist them. While city’super already offers a range of local and sustainable items, these offerings often go unnoticed. Our first design directive addresses this by advocating a rotating curation of products, aiming to spotlight these sustainable options and guide shoppers toward them.

Short-term Example:
Sustainable Showcase

We want to start by making more apparent the various offerings city'super has. We propose city'super start by repurposing and adapting existing point-of-purchase displays to showcase and promote these offerings as the "city'super Sustainable Choice", which serves to make them more explicit with a dedicated and distinct space.

Mid-term Example:
Sustainable Tower

This tower not only showcases local and sustainable products but also engages shoppers with the stories behind them. Our research emphasized prioritizing process and philosophy over feel-good narratives. This concept bolsters city'super's brand image of transparency, sustainability, and meaningful customer connections.

Long-term Example:
Sustainable Gateway

Long-term, cement city'super as a top sustainable hub by integrating sustainability into its core identity. Create distinct landmarks, like a gateway, spotlighting ESG initiatives and local, sustainable offerings – spanning from food and beverages to lifestyle products like organic body care.

Connecting process and product tangibly and transparently

Design Directive 2:

We heard from our research participants that while they get to see and taste the produce sold in supermarkets, they rarely know the process of growing quality produce. We believe that transparency of the farming process can add value to the produce.

Short-term Example:
Farm Artifact

Our short-term example features an object from the farm next to the produce. Doing this draws shoppers’ attention while bringing the sustainable farming process to life. When we tested this prototype, one participant was surprised to know that each mango was wrapped in a paper bag to protect it from insects. And this made her appreciate the mangoes even more.

Mid-term Example:
Farm Story

This mid-term example is a more elaborate version of the short-term. With a description of the farming process, shoppers can have a better understanding of how the produce was grown. For example, we could have a diagram showing the process of planting mangoes with lobster shells as fertilizer. One of our research participants noted that she would use this story to introduce her foreign friends to local Taiwanese produce.

Long-term Example:
Farm Experience

The long-term example could employ Augmented Reality to passively invite shoppers to learn more about the produce in front of them. The use of AR enhances the farm-to-shelf story by adding a digital layer of information and interactive elements to their shopping experience.

Provide dynamic feedback to support sustainable shopping decisions

Design Directive 3:

In our research, we found that while shopping sustainably is ideal for most shoppers, they often do not know where to begin and how much impact they are actually making. Therefore, we believe it is important to educate shoppers on sustainable shopping through immediate feedback on their actions in a joyful and rewarding way.

Short-term Example:
Sustainability Points

Our short-term concept is to reward shoppers when they shop sustainably. For example, if shoppers bring their own shopping bags or purchase local and sustainable produce, they can get points per action. The reward system can be done via Line Points, and points can be redeemed for products or discounts at city’super.

Mid-term Example:
Sustainability Buddy

Our prototype, which we named "Sustainability Buddy," serves as a scan and measure that calculates the sustainability impact of each product, such as its carbon footprint. The main objective is to provide shoppers with quantifiable information about their environmental impact and inspire them to make sustainable choices.

Long-term Example:
Sustainability Score

To extend the mid-term concept, we can integrate the scan & measure feature into city’super’s HappyGo app. Shoppers will be able to view their sustainability impact over a period of time in a gamified manner to encourage them to keep up their good work. Those kinds of concrete feedback on their shopping behavior would educate and inspire shoppers to shop more sustainably.

Create occasions for sharing sustainability with friends and family

Design Directive 4:

We found in our research the importance of gift-giving in Taiwanese culture. City’super provides preselected wicker gift baskets and gift boxes for its customers. These often contain imported goods and are given as a sign of respect in business. Shoppers also give gift baskets when visiting friends at the hospital or when people visit from abroad. How might we help shoppers purchase sustainable foods when giving gifts?

Short-term Example:
Personal Gift Slection

In this short-term concept, city’super helps customers create their own selection of sustainable foods and helps them prepare gift boxes for friends and family. A personal message about the shopper’s sustainable food purchases can be provided along with a message from city’super about its sustainability practices. Or, the customer can preorder their sustainable gift box in advance and pick it up at the service desk. In this concept, city’super uses an off-the-shelf gift box.

Mid-term Example:
Personal Gift Basket

In the mid or long term, city’super may invest in a beautiful custom-designed gift box. This concept assists the shopper in making their selection as they shop. This design highlights the customer’s concern for sustainability through printed stories and images inside the gift. It might be returnable to city’super for a discount on sustainable foods incentivizing new customers to shop sustainably at city’super.

Emerging Principles

We see certain principles emerge as we explore those Design Directives and idea examples. We presented those principles as criteria that city’super can use when evaluating their ideas.

Foster connection
Make stores exploratory
Educational & entertaining
Show, don’t tell
Help customers see their impact
Curate exploration beyond the store

Prototypes that we exhibited during our presentation

Approach

Understanding the Project Goal

Our project initiation revolved around grasping city'super's objectives. Following interviews with city'super's management, it emerged that they aspire for city'super to lead in ESG initiatives within the grocery sector. They view sustainability as a means to establish customer trust, loyalty, and subsequently, sales growth. While initial steps were taken, including partnerships with local farmers, their ESG scope was extensive, prompting uncertainty about areas of focus and initiation points.

Field Study: Observing Supermarkets in Taipei

In the initial week, our focus revolved around comprehensive visits and observations of diverse grocery stores in Taipei. This encompassed exploration of over 20 stores, including PX Mart, Carrefour, Mia C'bon, Breeze, city'super, and traditional markets, spanning various locations.

Our observation underscored a prominent trend: city'super's competitors were actively intensifying their ESG focus, evident in the way they presented these initiatives in-store. For instance, Carrefour, with its widespread presence, collaborated with Disney, integrating characters on sustainable product packaging to educate children. Similarly, Mia C'bon, another high-end supermarket and key rival to city'super, prioritized organic produce similar to the Whole Foods model in the US, particularly through their private brand offerings.

Additionally, a distinctive pattern emerged – city'super wasn't positioned as a routine grocery destination. Instead, it thrived as a go-to place for unique imported goods and premium products suitable for special occasions. Our in-store shopper observations revealed a contrast: while Carrefour and Mia C'bon saw shoppers with sizable carts filled with meat, vegetables, dairy, and eggs, city'super patrons typically opted for a few imported snacks and alcohol bottles.

city’super

Vegetable section has a mix of organic and non-organic produce

A shopper holding imported snacks

A shopper looking at fruit gift boxes

Mia C’bon (city’super’s primary competitor)

Unpackaged fresh produce

Organic produce from their private brand

Dedicated space for their ESG initiatives

Shoppers’ cart indicating that shoppers buy their daily groceries at Mia C’bon

Carrefour

Promoting organic produce with a partnership with Disney

Minimum packaging for fresh produce

Traditional markets

No packaging, produce still has soil on it

Shoppers inspecting fish and meat and interacting with the staff

Field Trips: Understanding Farming in Taiwan

In the first 2 weeks, we immersed ourselves in the production process, consulted industry experts, and developed a profound comprehension of produce shipping and distribution. Our field visits spanned Taipei (distributors, markets, startup accelerator), Taichung (markets, organic and food safety centers), Yunlin (farms, co-ops, logistic centers), and Pingtung (farms, factories, distribution centers). We delved into Taiwanese perspectives on organic produce, certification processes, and distinct value-added approaches employed by businesses. From those field visits, we aimed to understand the elements that structure the definition of "sustainability" and how to communicate that to consumers.

Secondary Research: Exploring Sustainability Initiatives by Grocery Stores Worldwide

We extensively examined sustainability initiatives undertaken by retailers both domestically and internationally. We primarily scrutinized their websites, as many companies feature dedicated sustainability sections. Among domestic stores in Taiwan, our study encompassed city'super, Carrefour, Mia C'bon, PX Mart, and Lafe. On the international front, we analyzed city'super Hong Kong, Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Erewhon in the US, and LIDL in the UK.

Our investigation revealed common themes shared across these stores, including plastic reduction and management, waste reduction and management, carbon footprint reduction, transparency and traceability, local sourcing and commitment to local food, support for local farmers, and a focus on nutrition, food safety, and organics.

Primary Research: Exploring Shoppers Needs

Simultaneously with our field trips and primary research, we conducted multiple rounds of qualitative research to capture customer desires and needs. Our interviews comprised five shoppers in-depth interviews, three immersive shop-along studies, and five collaborative stakeholder meetings with city'super. Notably, these interviews encompassed not only city'super patrons but also sustainability-conscious shoppers in general.

In-depth interviews and shop-alongs with current city’super shoppers

Our interactions with current city'super shoppers affirmed our initial assumptions drawn from field visits. Interviewees concurred that city'super is primarily sought after for its unique imported goods unavailable elsewhere and premium local produce, often reserved for special occasions such as gifting fruits. In terms of sustainability, these shoppers expressed an inability to associate city'super with ESG practices due to the high-carbon footprint of imported products and the absence of visible sustainability information within the stores.

In-depth interviews with sustainability-minded shoppers

During our interviews with sustainability-minded individuals who weren't city'super shoppers, a consistent perception emerged – they viewed city'super as a distinctive destination rather than an everyday grocery store. Strikingly, most of these respondents preferred sourcing their daily groceries from traditional markets, attributing this choice to perceptions of freshness and affordability.

Of note, a prevalent trend among these individuals was their close ties to food experts, whose insights they highly valued and trusted. For instance, Emily, a daily vegetable-based lunch preparer, drew knowledge from a friend who owned a restaurant, relying on them for information about reputable farmers and stores. Emily further emphasized that she frequently becomes emotionally drawn to stories of farmers, particularly when these stories involve unique career shifts, such as transitioning from a tech company to becoming a farmer to .

Interestingly, many interviewees voiced concerns about city'super's premium pricing, often coupled with excessive packaging and doubts about produce freshness. This feedback illuminated potential areas for city'super to address to enhance its sustainability image and customer appeal.

Interviews with city’super management
Subsequent stakeholder discussions with city'super shed light on the impact of COVID, resulting in a 10% reduction in footfall. Positioned within large department stores, city'super experiences minimal lingering, with patrons making quick visits during their overall shopping. Addressing this challenge and forging unique shopper connections takes precedence in city'super's vision.

Stakeholders underscored a keen focus on ESG, aiming to align profit with purpose by offering conscious and ethical products. The aspiration is to cultivate shopper trust through a robust brand image – showcasing care, for example via origin disclosure on price tags, informative posters, and organic offerings. Currently, city'super's ESG effort appears misaligned, lacking visibility compared to Carrefour's compelling storytelling.

Furthermore, city'super's management outlined three key constraints. Firstly, their staff resources are limited, posing challenges for implementing new initiatives. Budgetary constraints also restrict the feasibility of outsourcing design work to third-party entities. Additionally, the physical store space is limited, with each area dedicated to specific produce categories. With just 8 stores in Taipei, their footprint is significantly smaller than competitors'. Given these limitations, our challenge was to devise a strategy for showcasing their ESG initiatives within the confines of minimal space, staff, and budget.

Redefining Problems: Develop How-Might-We Statements And Identify Opportunity Areas

During this phase, we amalgamated our accumulated findings to pinpoint potential areas for city'super to explore further. Our process commenced by collaboratively formulating How-Might-We statements rooted in our prior research. Once these statements were categorized into clusters, we transformed them into distinct opportunity areas.

We introduced 3 overarching themes and 6 distinct opportunity areas, accompanied by problem statements, intended outcomes, and illustrative concept examples. This comprehensive framework was shared with both city'super management and shoppers. Following the presentation of each opportunity area, we facilitated individual evaluations, wherein city'super management gauged potential business impact and their enthusiasm for pursuing the opportunity. Concurrently, shoppers expressed the impact on their shopping behaviors and their level of excitement about each proposed opportunity area.

Example of Problem Statements, Intended Results and Concept Examples (for opportunity area No. 6)

The voting results from the activity revealed an intriguing contrast between city'super management and shoppers. City'super management placed higher value on the following three opportunity areas: 1: Trusted Source, 3: Link premium imported to local, and 4: Premium regardless of origin. On the other hand, shoppers displayed distinct preferences; while they also valued 1: Trusted source, their interest extended to 5: Better communicate and show initiatives and 6: Help shoppers understand how well they shop sustainably.

When considering the high-level themes, city'super management leaned towards Creating Trust and Encouraging Local, while shoppers leaned more towards Promoting Awareness. Given the essence of design work in catering to user needs within set constraints, our strategic direction entailed converging design concepts that harmonize these three themes. This approach ensures optimal shopper service while being mindful of the limitations conveyed to us by city'super management, encompassing factors such as time, resources, personnel, and floorspace.

Research through Prototyping

With our focus area delineated in the preceding phase, we embarked on generating initiative concepts for city'super. After reviewing the myriad ideas stemming from the six opportunity areas, we pinpointed those that seamlessly aligned with the three overarching themes: "Creating Trust," "Encouraging Local," and "Promoting Awareness." Subsequently, we transformed these chosen ideas into physical or digital prototypes, which were prominently showcased within an actual city'super store.

To enrich our understanding, we extended invitations to several shoppers, soliciting their perspectives on the prototypes within the context of the store. We posed questions regarding their reactions and impressions, aiming not to merely validate our concepts, but to further delve into shoppers' behaviors and interests during their shopping experiences. From this research, we could identify those 4 main shoppers needs.

Shoppers’ Needs:

“Show and direct me to a selection of curated products”
“Show me how the process makes this produce special”
“Show me how sustainably I’m shopping and how I can do more”
“I want personalized ways to bring sustainability into my life”

Developing Design Directives

Drawing from the shoppers' needs identified in the preceding phase and leveraging feedback gathered from our prototypes, we proceeded to formulate four distinct design directives, each aligning with a specific shopper need. The intention was to furnish city'super with a comprehensive guide that could be seamlessly applied for future ideation, ensuring the sustainability of our efforts beyond the project's conclusion.

Having crafted these design directives, we embarked on generating a plethora of idea examples for each directive, spanning short-term, mid-term, and long-term horizons. To enhance the clarity of our concepts, we meticulously developed additional physical or digital prototypes, meticulously presenting these innovative ideas to effectively communicate their potential.