Raw Materials (Agency) // Confidential Fortune 500 Convenience Retail Company (Client)
Approach
The client sought to map the likely future of convenience over the next 3–5 years and identify brand ethos and value propositions that are future-proof. The primary research goals were to deeply understand the current landscape, explore competitors and adjacencies, extrapolate future convenience trends, and propose/validate new convenience spaces.
The approach utilized extensive Qualitative Ecosystem Research, including 300+ hours of ethnographic research, nearly 60 Customer Intercepts & In-Depth Interviews (IDIs), 19 Interviews with Subject Matter Experts & Stakeholders, visits to over 100 client locations, competitive spaces, and innovation spaces across 10 U.S. cities over 4 weeks. An Ideation sprint to synthesize data and develop prototypes for testing was conducted following the research.
Outcome & Impact
The research successfully mapped major macro-trends and provided a strategic framework for the client to reclaim convenience by being where and when it is needed. While the client currently provides daily necessities with frictionless transactions the findings indicated that the brand must adjust its physical and digital presence to meet evolving needs in the "Near Future".
Opportunities to Address Geographic and Work Dispersal: As work-from-home sticks and populations disperse, new "convenience deserts" are created. Opportunities to establish presence in these new spaces of need including expanded notions of ‘delivery’, mobility, product offerings and digital options.
The identified concepts and hypotheses were taken forward for quantitative study and experimentation to validate market demand and inform the future roadmap.