Bridging the Gap

Synchronizing Global Image with Local Efforts for a Taiwanese Supermarket

City'Super, a premium supermarket brand in Taiwan, is celebrated for its quality imported goods but faces a challenge in aligning its reputation with its commitment to social and environmental sustainability. Despite championing numerous ESG initiatives to support local culture and sustainable products, customer perceptions remained focused on their international offerings. As design consultants, we collaborated with the local innovation team to bridge the gap between local and global elements of their brand identity, working to shift the perception and emphasize their dedication to sustainability, ensuring a balanced representation of both their luxury imports and their local commitment.

Roles

Experience Designer
Design Researcher

Duration

6 Weeks

Supervisor

Martin Thaler, Institute of Design
Nigel Antony, Far Eastern Group DRIVE team

Team

Adelyn Soetyono, Institute of Design
Bruce Liao, Yuan Ze University
Ran Konaka, Institute of Design
William Rutter, Institute of Design

Background

City’Super Taiwan, a supermarket brand operated by the Far Eastern Group, is celebrated for its quality imported goods but faces a challenge in aligning its reputation with its commitment to social and environmental sustainability.

City'super views sustainability as a means to establish customer trust, loyalty, and subsequently, sales growth, and aspires to lead in ESG initiatives within the grocery sector. Additionally, the rise in government-mandated ESG initiatives has prompted numerous supermarkets, including city'super and its competitors, to intensify their commitment to environmental and social responsibilities.

Sustainability has become a crucial component of their strategy. However, despite championing numerous ESG initiatives to support local culture and sustainable products, customer perceptions remained focused on city’Super’s international offerings, and the high carbon footprint associated with them.

As design consultants, we collaborated with the Far Eastern Group’s DRIVE innovation team to bridge the gap between local and global elements of city’Super’s brand identity, working to shift the perception and emphasize their dedication to sustainability, ensuring a balanced representation of both their luxury imports and their local commitment.

Challenge

Shift shopper perceptions and enhance their experience while shining a light on city’Super’s ESG efforts

Approach

The project was constrained by a tight deadline: it had to implementable by the mid-Autumn Festival in three months, which helped guide the scale and scope of our solutions.

During the six weeks of our engagement, we focused on understanding both the business and the customer side of city'super. We analyzed business requirements and processes, studied shopper behaviors and needs, and identified areas for improvement. We worked closely with the Far Eastern Group's DRIVE innovation team to develop initial design concepts and directions that could be implemented in the following months.

We followed a highly iterative design process

Due to the tight timeframe, we took a highly iterative approach. We tested hypotheses, evaluated different opportunities, and refined our concepts at each stage. This involved gathering feedback from both shoppers and business stakeholders to make informed decisions that are aligned with shopper needs and mental models and city'super's goals and capabilities.

Receiving feedback on opportunity areas from stakeholders and shoppers

Testing design concepts with shoppers and staff

Solution

Through an exhaustive process of field research, shopper interviews and shop alongs, we uncovered distinct shopper needs that need to be addressed, and influenced the proposed design directions.

From

Shopper Needs

to

Design Directions

1.

"Show and direct me to a selection of curated products"

Signposting and highlighting a selection of curated products

2.

“Show me how the process makes this produce special”

Connecting process and product tangibly and transparently

3.

“Show me how sustainably I’m shopping and how I can do more”

Provide dynamic feedback to support sustainable shopping decisions

4.

“I want personalized ways to bring sustainability into my life”

Create occasions for sharing sustainability with friends and family

In order to demonstrate the potential of these design directions, we developed concepts that harmonize with each direction, and demonstrate their potential for growth.

Design Direction 1

Signposting and highlighting a selection of curated products

Our research revealed that while shoppers are looking to shop more sustainably, and look to city’Super as a premium brand to help them. While city’Super carries a great selection of local and sustainable products, these offerings often go unnoticed. Our first direction addresses this by highlighting a curated selection of these local and sustainable offerings, that keeps rotating, in order to keep shoppers interested and engaged.

Short Term

Sustainable Showcase

City’Super can start by adapting existing point of purchase display to showcase and promote these offerings as the “City’Super Sustainable Choice”, making them more explicit with a distinct and dedicated space.

Mid Term

Sustainable Tower

As shoppers engage with these offerings, introducing a free-standing tower, helps attract shoppers from afar. Engaging stories that highlight the unique processes and philosophies behind these offerings helps them feel more connected with the showcased products.

Long Term

Sustainable Gateway

As city’Super’s position as a premier destination for sustainable products is solidified, establishing identifiable landmarks, such as a gateway, to highlight ESG initiatives and showcase these offerings, would embed sustainability as a core part of the identity.

Design Direction 2

Connecting process and product tangibly and transparently

As part of our research, we found that while shoppers get to see and taste the produce sold in supermarkets, they rarely know the process of growing quality ESG produce. Our second direction addresses this by tearing down the walls and bringing transparency to the farming and production process.

Short Term

Farm Artifact

By featuring an object from the farm right next to the produce, city’Super can draw shoppers’ attention while bringing the sustainable farming process to life.

Mid Term

Farm Story

A description of the farming process provides shoppers with an in-depth understanding of how the produce in front of them was grown, and the unique processes and philosophies that shaped it.

Long Term

Farm Experience

Incorporating Augmented Reality (AR) videos passively invites shoppers to learn more about the produce, and immerses them in the process.

Design Direction 3

Provide dynamic feedback to support sustainable shopping decisions

In our research, we found that while shopping sustainability is the ideal for most shoppers, they often do not understand the impact that their shopping has. Our third direction addresses this by educating shoppers about their sustainability impact through immediate feedback on their actions.

Short Term

Sustainability Points

By rewarding shoppers for their sustainable actions, city’Super can bring transperancy to sustainability, and encourage and promote sustainable practices.

Mid Term

Sustainability Buddy

Place any item in the scan area and Sustainability Buddy gives you sustainability information like carbon footprint to you to improve your shopping habits.

Long Term

Sustainability Score

Upon check out, shoppers’ sustainability impact is reflected in score on the mobile app. They can track their personal impact in comparison to other shoppers and improve it over time.

Design Direction 4

Create occasions for sharing sustainability with friends and family

Thoughtful gift giving is an important part of Taiwanese culture to show respect and appreciation in both professional contexts as well as more personal and casual ones. While city’Super currently offers pre-selected and curated gift baskets for such occasions, these can feel generic and impersonal. Our fourth direction addresses this by giving shoppers the freedom to curate their own gift basket for special and momentous occasions, while showcasing their personal values around sustainability.

Short Term

Personal Gift Selection

Shoppers purchase a selection of foods and have them gift boxed at the service desk in a sustainable gift box.

Long Term

Personal Gift Basket

A personalized and custom gift basket which introduces their friends and family to sustainable shopping at city’super.

“Previously, I found it challenging to associate city'super with sustainability and ESG initiatives. However, this presentation has effectively convinced me otherwise.”

- Manager,

city'Super