We believe that: young professionals are okay with others picking their groceries
To verify that we will: (1) ask people how they shop + observe them, and (2) ask directly if they would approve of others picking their groceries
We will measure: (1) consistencies/commonalities in picking criteria, and (2) % of people who approve
We are right if: (1) lots of overlap in picking criteria, and (2) % of people who approve > 80%
We believed that: young professionals are okay with others picking their groceries
We observed that: (1) some commonalities on shopping tendencies (outlined at the end of this post), and (2) young professionals have an approval rate of other people shopping for them of over 90%
From that, we learned that: for the most part, people do approve of someone grocery shopping for them if there are some guidelines in place
Therefore, we will: continue as planned! MingleMeals’ premade boxes are a go!
Interview notes:
Part 1:
I went to Trader Joes to observe some people shop. I went at 5PM on Monday 11/13. I observed five people and asked questions to two of them.
For non-refrigerated items, three of the five picked up only one item. Two of the three checked out the expiration date before continuing. The other one did not. Two out of five of them picked up more than one item and compared expiration dates.
For produce, people picked up between 2-5 items for every one taken. People were more “picky” on fruits vs vegetables, especially “open” fruits like apples or peaches. I asked one person how they pick produce. They said that they like to “feel” the fruits to see how “squishy” they are. They also look at color and exterior.
One of the five people I examined got dairy products, and they looked at four different half-gallons of milk. I asked this person how they looked at expiration dates. They said that they want one that is “as far out as possible” for dairy.
I realize that this data is sparse since I only studied 5 people, but observing them “in the wild” was useful.
Part 2:
I interviewed 15 people to see if they would accept people shopping for them. These 15 are Stanford students, so there may be some bias there.
14/15 approved. 1/15 disapproved.
Some quotes:
“I guess I don’t think about it? Like everyone uses grocery delivery.”
“Personally, I like picking my own. I’m pretty particular. [laughs] I make sure to get organic wherever possible, except for broccoli.”
