This 10-week project was a journey, where I with four other team members immersed myself exploring the culture of delivery systems in Savannah. We used methods of contextual research and ethnography tools to gather data and come up with the ideas to better these services.
WHY DELIVERY SYSTEMS?
After moving to Savannah, we realized there are many issues with home deliveries, from personal experiences or people close to us. Getting things delivered is a commodity most people use and most of the time delivery companies complicate the process, and users end up having terrible experiences and feeling aggravated. Delayed, damaged and missing packages was something that made us very interested in this topic.
We also realized a lack of availability or knowledge of on demand services in Savannah which are booming across the U.S. This was the second area of interest; we wanted to learn what services were available and if there was enough demand to bring others that are already available in major cities.
As the world moves towards making life easier for all of us and having things available 24/7. We were curious about the process, opportunities and people who make it happen.
SECONDARY RESEARCH
We researched existing information of delivery systems. We looked at major players such as FedEx, UPS, USPS, DHL and other services from around the world. We realized that most of the deliveries worldwide are done by FedEx and UPS, they were the common denominator in most countries. The rest of the delivery systems are local or regional.
In the United States the USPS is the major player processing an average of 509 million packages every day. Also, The Postal Service has the country’s largest retail network and is the core of the $1.4 trillion mailing industry employing more than 7.5 million people. On the other hand, FedEx is the primary choice for air and international shipping while UPS dominates the ground with one hundred thousand vehicles.
OFFERING CULTURE ACTIVITY MAP
Exploring innovation opportunities by shifting focus on offerings, activities and culture.
The Offering Culture Activity map uses three ways to look at innovation opportunities: the “offerings” (products, services) with their functions and features, the “activities” people do with those offerings and the “cultural context” in which people use those offerings.
We identified the various cultural factors affecting the type of services people use. This mode helped us identify opportunities related to “delivery services” and the reasons relevant to the process of choosing the service and type of delivery.
INTENT STATEMENT
Here we looked at the latest developments in the field of deliveries and saw emerging trends of drone, self-driven cars and automatic deliveries. We identified the opportunities and focused on the act of delivering a package. We also looked at the limitations, intentions and aspirations
in the process of delivery.
in the process of delivery.
Porter's Five Forces analysis
INDUSTRY DIAGNOSTICS
To understand the competitive intensity of an industry we used Michael Porter’s Five Forces; that include: the threat of potential entrants to the market, the threat of substitute products or services, the bargaining power of the customers/buyers, the bargaining power of suppliers and the intensity of rivalry among competitors.
We gathered information about the delivery services existing in the United States, reviewed the information we had to identify them with the Five Forces mentioned above. Then we assessed the impact of each force on the industry.
PRIMARY RESEARCH
The first step of our primary research was Observation. We did observation at three locations: FedEx store at Broughton Street, USPS store at Fahm Street and UPS store at East Bryan Street. For this we adopted the Fly on the Wall technique. Customer activities were not influenced by our presence. This provided us with pure statistics. We looked at the infrastructure and daily operations of the organization. The critical part of the process was the manner of attending to a customer, which affected the time taken per person.
INTERVIEWS
Before we could start our interviews, we had to brainstorm and create a guideline of questions; a road map to follow during the different interviews. We planned to take the semi structured interview approach; thus, providing opportunities for unprompted conversations from the interviewees. We categorized our audience in three sections: sellers, consumers and deliverers. Each type of interview was crafted carefully taking the context into consideration. We looked at the pain points for identified interviewee groups.
We were able to interview about 21 people formally. The interview time was 20 minutes on average. We had five 60-minute-long interviews. We were able to interview people at the first culture probe in Forsyth. All the interviews provided some unique insights. We also saw similarities in some respects such as trends, experiences and services people use. The deliverers’ interviews provided us with new insights into the operating systems of delivering. It gave us a new perspective.
CULTURAL PROBES
To acquire data from large variety of audience within a short period of time, we did two iterations of culture probes. The design of the probe was a major challenge ahead of us, it was inspired from the game Paper Toss. Treading on that concept we created an interactive probe that entertained people to participate. People taking part in the activity were intrigued and complimented us on our creative thinking for data collection.
This cultural probe provided us with valuable insights regarding people’s habits of shopping, their needs, and what services are missing.
For the second cultural probe we wanted to know about the experiences people have had in receiving or sending deliveries. The design used the artifacts related to delivery services and the butler denoted comfort in the act of delivery. To humanize the design, we created a silhouette of a butler with a cloche asking people how he could help them. He represented on demand services all round the clock that could be available to people. The other part of the design was a moving rack with boxes hanging which denoted the targeted audience, for example categorization as per age and gender.
The questions provided in depth understanding of the experience people have during deliveries. We also asked people what they would like to get delivered. This provided us with opportunities for the future. The responses prompted us to think of how we might question to improve the experiences people have.
INSIGHTS
Mostly people have negative experiences regarding their deliveries. These often include delays, loss of packages, leaving packages unattended when the customers are not at home and false delivery calls.
The process of resolving these issues was very complicated and inconvenient for people. People were not aware of many on-demand services present in the other states. Though they are ready to pay for an annual membership after being offered the services for a trial period.
They also said Savannah is a favorable place for starting an on-demand service. Some of them are willing to act as deliverers owing to the fact of architectural advantages in Savannah.
AFFINITY MAPPING
Was a method of categorizing the hundreds of data points that we obtained from our secondary research, interviews, observations and cultural probes. Affinity shows in one place the common issues, themes, and scope of the customer problems and needs.
We had about 700 data points that we wrote down on yellow Post-it notes. During the first method of affinitizing, we followed a silent sorting method. Nobody influenced anyone which gave rise to some fresh categories.
During the second method of affinitizing, we sorted all the yellow Post-its into 120 blue Post-its. Then we categorized them into 48 Pink which were then finalized into 8 Green Post-it categories.
PERSONA
Help designers overcome a very human problem, bias.
We created two personas with the mindset they will fit our extremist and mainstreams profiles.
We created two personas with the mindset they will fit our extremist and mainstreams profiles.
Laura
Age: 26
Status: single
Lives: in downtown Savannah
Work: student at SCAD
Kids: none
Normal day: wakes up and prepares her breakfast. While she eats, she catches up on a tv show and social media. After breakfast she goes on walk with her dog. When she gets back, Laura prepares some snacks and gets things ready for class. Then she heads out to with one of her classmates to get coffee and catch a ride to school. She has classes, presentation and sometimes group meetings for projects. Gets back home late afternoon and walks her dog again. She cooks dinner and eats while talking to her family. Showers and starts working on her projects from school.
For fun: Laura is a tv show addict and catches a new episode or season anytime she gets. She doesn’t have class on Friday and is usually her chill day. On the weekends she enjoys hanging out with friends and going out for drinks or a movie. Laura’s loves hanging out with her dog at home, catching the latest celebrity's drama and staying current with the latest fashion.
Why her: she doesn’t have a car, so she orders online a lot. She gets things delivered to her house several times a month, sometimes several times a week. She’s a shopaholic who wants everything delivered at any time. She also sells things she doesn’t want any more online in place such as eBay and postmark. Laura has the full cycle experience of getting things delivered and shipping things to buyers.
Status: single
Lives: in downtown Savannah
Work: student at SCAD
Kids: none
Normal day: wakes up and prepares her breakfast. While she eats, she catches up on a tv show and social media. After breakfast she goes on walk with her dog. When she gets back, Laura prepares some snacks and gets things ready for class. Then she heads out to with one of her classmates to get coffee and catch a ride to school. She has classes, presentation and sometimes group meetings for projects. Gets back home late afternoon and walks her dog again. She cooks dinner and eats while talking to her family. Showers and starts working on her projects from school.
For fun: Laura is a tv show addict and catches a new episode or season anytime she gets. She doesn’t have class on Friday and is usually her chill day. On the weekends she enjoys hanging out with friends and going out for drinks or a movie. Laura’s loves hanging out with her dog at home, catching the latest celebrity's drama and staying current with the latest fashion.
Why her: she doesn’t have a car, so she orders online a lot. She gets things delivered to her house several times a month, sometimes several times a week. She’s a shopaholic who wants everything delivered at any time. She also sells things she doesn’t want any more online in place such as eBay and postmark. Laura has the full cycle experience of getting things delivered and shipping things to buyers.
Andy
Age: 34
Status: married
Lives: in a house in Savannah around Forsyth Park with his wife
Work: artist
Kids: none
Normal day: wakes up, showers and has breakfast. While he eats with his wife, they catch up on the local news. Then he goes to his studio room in his house, puts on some music and starts to work. If inspiration hits, he can stay there for hours, working on single piece. Other days he takes breaks and goes out for lunch with a good book. At night, he hangs out with his wife have dinner and watch movie or go on date night. He showers and goes to sleep by midnight.
For fun: Andy loves to paint and create new things. This his work, his hobby and passion. Another thing he enjoys is date nights with his wife and going around town, discovering new places. He also likes photography and walking, someday he walks all over Savannah taking photos and coming up with new ideas for his work.
Why him: he doesn’t shop often, online or in stores. When he does, he prefers to go out and get the things he need. He has had issues in the past with delivered items been left out in his porch and getting damaged or stolen.
Status: married
Lives: in a house in Savannah around Forsyth Park with his wife
Work: artist
Kids: none
Normal day: wakes up, showers and has breakfast. While he eats with his wife, they catch up on the local news. Then he goes to his studio room in his house, puts on some music and starts to work. If inspiration hits, he can stay there for hours, working on single piece. Other days he takes breaks and goes out for lunch with a good book. At night, he hangs out with his wife have dinner and watch movie or go on date night. He showers and goes to sleep by midnight.
For fun: Andy loves to paint and create new things. This his work, his hobby and passion. Another thing he enjoys is date nights with his wife and going around town, discovering new places. He also likes photography and walking, someday he walks all over Savannah taking photos and coming up with new ideas for his work.
Why him: he doesn’t shop often, online or in stores. When he does, he prefers to go out and get the things he need. He has had issues in the past with delivered items been left out in his porch and getting damaged or stolen.
OFFERINGS
After combining data from our secondary as well as primary research, three opportunities were evidently visible. We had reached out to three types of people involved in our topic; sellers, customers and deliverers.
With heroic optimism we have tried our best to solve problems faced by customers to improve the deliveries. This involved some system improvements for the deliverers making the process even easier. Our focus was on three major points: Experience, Cost and Logistical issues. We tried to solve the issues asking ourselves “How Might We” ...
SOME OF OUR PROPOSED SOLUTIONS
SMART LOCKER
This locker has two divisions. The one on the top will have a refrigerated unit for perishable items, the second for other packages.
This locker protects packages in all weather conditions and keeps them safe. The customers can come home carefree knowing their packages have arrived, as a notification will be sent confirming the delivery of the package.
This locker will beautify the porches
of Savannah houses!
This locker will beautify the porches
of Savannah houses!
This locker will beautify the porches
of Savannah houses!
of Savannah houses!
EARLY MORNING AND AFTER HOUR DELIVERIES
Our research showed us that most people in Savannah missed their deliveries since they are not home during the time of delivery. To resolve this issue people either left their packages with neighbors or at their leasing offices. This complicated the process as people had to depend on the availability of neighbors or office hours of the leasing offices.
Through this offering, people will be able to receive their packages at these flexible hours. They can request deliveries at special hours. This offering will help the couriers for easy deliveries and generate revenue through the surge charges; create a good experience for the customers as they will be able request their deliveries as per availability.
CATEGORIZATION
We realized there was a need for color coding for the different types of boxes. We thought it would be a good opportunity to design some graphics for the easy categorization
of boxes.
of boxes.
This offering provides different icons in colors identifying with the goods making it easier for arranging and storing packages at the warehouse. The offering includes carefully designed graphics
and packing tape in an assigned color.
and packing tape in an assigned color.
Through this offering we hope the sorting of packages and storage will be easier and reduce the damage, loss or delay of items.
REWARDS FOR BOXES RETURNED
When we talked to people who shopped online frequently, we found out that they often have stacks of boxes that they receive from the packages. Some of them reuse the packages for storage, while some of them find them annoying because they have to store them and because they look unpleasant, while others just throw them away in the trash.
Looking at all these circumstances, we thought of introducing a concept of Return Rewards. This meant that anyone could return boxes, plastic, protective sheets to the shipment centers so that they can reuse them. Also, these customers shall get a reward in the form of discounts or free shipping or immediate cash if they continue doing this over a certain period of time.
CONCLUSION
For the past ten weeks we have been on a beautiful journey of research and learning. We learned basics like ethnography and cultures, how to study people, their behavioral patterns and phenomena without disturbing the atmosphere or making people uncomfortable.
We learned that research should always be conducted with an open mind, no assumptions and no judgments. We were exposed to a large field of tools and methods of conducting research. We learned a lot of facts and new information about delivery systems pertaining to Savannah.
We made a solid effort to develop and come up with offerings and opportunities so that Savannahians can have a better experience with home deliveries. And for this, we have Kwela Hermanns, Vijay Kumar and the entire team of IDEO to thank for!
For the final presentation, we converted a U-Haul van into a museum. We invited all the stakeholders such as delivery drivers and some of the people we interviewed for this project. We presented our findings with the help of a journey map that was printed on a large format paper.
Thank you!
