Sainsburys
Our brief
To identify and understand a demographic's relationship to food waste
Sainsbury's, the second-largest supermarket chain in the UK, was founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London. In 2015, Sainsbury's asked their customers what mattered most, and nearly half said food waste. Following this, Sainsbury's pledged to invest £1m in projects to discover effective strategies for reducing food waste.
Through THE SOUND, a Global Exploration, Strategy, and Innovation agency, I embarked on a hands-on discovery regarding Generation Edge's relationship with food waste. The brief was to deliver an insight into the target demographic, develop a viable concept to change behaviour, and detail how Sainsbury's could 'own' the solution.
What I did
Unpacking the When, How, and Why of Food Waste
To begin, I explored the When, How, and Why:
- When do people think about food waste?
- In the store? At home? At disposal?
- What are the triggers and cues for food waste, and how can we use these?
- How does food waste occur, and how can we simplify how to reduce it?
- Why should or do people care about food waste, and how do we encourage them to be mindful of it?
To unpack these aspects and better understand my target, I conducted a secondary analysis of reports and media articles relating to Generation Edge, specifically their core values, ambitions, and worldview. This research directed me to focus on the Gen Edge student segment, an evident choice for both accessibility and empathy.
Contextual Observations
To understand my segment, I initially observed students shopping, unpacking, and preparing meals. I also carried out semi-structured interviews to gather behaviours and opinions. Importantly, during these observations, I did not reveal the study's focus was food waste to safeguard against my participants altering their behaviour to seem more socially responsible.
What I did
Unpacking the discrete behaviours associated with Food Waste
Diary Studies for Gen Z
Finding focus, I honed in on student-athletes within the Gen-Edge segment, aiming to understand if their food values served to reduce, or increase food waste. I chose Snapchat for its ease and familiarity among participants for documenting food waste behaviours—this choice simplified communication, helping avoid 'car park data' for written diaries.
Creating a Data Cave
To fully immerse myself in the data, I surrounded myself with my findings. This involved displaying my final affinity map on my bedroom wall, which became my 'data cave.' To ensure that the map effectively narrated my design thinking process at a glance, I topped it with my hunt statement on a large post-it. Regularly, I revisited the groups, clusters, and themes, questioning: 'What does this mean?', 'Why is this important?', 'And what next?'. I then organised my affinity map into 'Purchasing', 'Unpacking', and 'Storage' groupings.
Addressing Key Behaviours Leading to Food Waste
The most prevalent and most wasteful behaviours were — 'failing to make a shopping list' and 'forgetting expiry dates'.
The absence of a shopping list led to participants aimlessly wandering the food aisles, which in turn led to the purchase of unnecessary items, therein increasing food waste. Forgetting expiry dates often resulted in recognising the expiry only when food was about to expire, prompting, in the best-case scenario, a last-minute freeze in a communal freezer, which usually resulted in the person forgetting about it, and so — food waste. Each behaviour, in turn, therefore amplified the likelihood of food waste.
Identifying Behaviours to Nudge
I used the axis of influence model to explore and ideate on potential strategies for behaviour change, focusing on the balance of power in decision-making—specifically, who holds control: the user, or the product. Considering ways to influence behaviour, I brainstormed the use of information, feedback, affordances and constraints.
The outcome
Are You Eating That?
YET is a mobile app that assists users in planning, sharing, and saving food.
With 'Saviour,' make your shopping lists smart by optimising your in-store journey — saving you time, money and food. With 'Sharer,' share food with the people you live with through notifications about expiry dates. YET helps you eat, not waste your food.
Why 'YET'?
The name 'YET,' echoing the common question among housemates—'You eating that?'—was chosen to appeal to this demographic. Both modes were designed to incentivise users with information, feedback, scripting, and gamification.
Reflections
Other projects
Vilda
