Problem:
Wasting food is a problem of developed countries. Some people blame it on the expiration date, some people blame it on peoples’ general wasteful natures, and some people blame it on shopping habits. Whatever the reason might be, there is one aspect that appears to happen quite often: buying too much of one thing which one cannot consume alone before it goes bad based on the volume in which it comes in. This especially happens to singles.
Singles appear to have certain living and eating habits that often don’t go together with what the usual supermarket provides. Quantities for bred are too big, chick peas come in too large containers, chicken wings come in 2kg bags, and marmalade glasses are so big they could last for years.
In the end, much of the food that is bought is opened for a one person meal and later is possibly not used again for however long as “variety” and frozen meals take over the food calendar. As a result, some of the foods that were bought land in the trash, as it is always easier to simply “clean” the fridge instead of checking if the food that was opened three days ago is still eatable (how can we be really sure that this is still good? not sure, so lets throw it away)!!!
Solution:
Supermarkets have about three types of customers: families, couples and singles. As stated, the problem is that the quantities/volume of food of a particular item, which are usually offered, are perfect mainly for families. Thus, there is possibly an opportunity for segmentation here.
Nowadays, many supermarkets, for example DIA in Spain, bring out their own branded products, which are usually cheaper. Thus, as supermarkets have the possibility to create their “own brands”, they might also be able to determine the quantities of food that are used for one item. If this is the case, segmentation could run its course with the end result of creating small individual supermarkets focused on the market segment of singles.
Taking this one step further:
Once a supermarket like that has been opened, data can be collected on the actual buying habits of singles, (how much is bought of what item) which are based on the assumption that singles buy food for only one particular meal. Once this has been established, supermarkets might be able to “totally” get rid of packaging by providing reusable “containers” (for a lack of a better word) for some particular foods (this is not new as it is already used with fruits and vegetables) Examples:
- Spaghetti: Instead of coming prepackaged, spaghetti could come in larger amounts from which people are able to take what they want based on what they need for their meal and priced based on the weight
- Butter: Instead of coming prepackaged, it could come in a larger container/piece from which certain pieces are taken of and put in the reusable container and priced based on the weight
- Also applicable to frozen foods, coffee, sweets, teas, and maybe even drinks such as water
In the end, one would create a supermarket that offers customizable quantities for most foods available and thus, one that has a positive impact on the society, as it reduces the waste of food and trash in general due reduced packaging and business intelligence focused on buying habits. Also, this type of idea might even create more jobs: How? People usually know what they want to buy or need – the reason for why a shopping list exists. This shopping list could be used to be send to the supermarkets that would then use it to “complete” it the list, taking away what is asked for from the “stock” of foods. To do this many things have to happen in terms of logistics, and part of that is the implementation of more human capital to get this service done in a manageable and timely manner.
The Idea Library 