4A- Forming an Opportunity Belief

I believe that an opportunity exists in bettering the way people buy and remember about their fresh fruits and vegetables, and eating them before they expire.

People who buy fresh fruit and vegetables have this need. 

This need has always existed.

Currently, people place their food on the kitchen or in the fridge and hope to remember to add it in their meals.

The Prototypical customers are people who buy groceries and don’t have extra money to spend on it

Iteration No.1:

The exact nature of their need is to be reminded of the fact that they have fresh fruits, as well as be told when it was last bought in order to have a measure of when it would expire. They become aware of this need after grocery shopping- if they bought fruit. Yet, as their diet is primarily fruits and vegetables as they exclude any meat or dairy products, they frequently purchase fruits. As such, the amount of fruit and its quality is a problem they consider each time they go to prepare a meal. They first became aware of this need when they switched to a vegetarian diet and realized the fast pace at which they had to replace their ingredients due to forgetting about the ones they had just bought. The need, however, was existing prior to their realization. Currently, they place the fruits on the counter and hope that as they cook, they’ll see the food and remember they had bought it. However, this solution does not always work, and they consider it faulty still.

Iteration No.2:

They experience the need to remember what fruits they bought and when in order to not make duplicate purchases at the grocery store, or similarly refrain from buying and stay with none. This need emerged after moving away from home, since they are now grocery shopping instead of their parents, and are aware of when fruits expire and have to be replaced rather than leaving it to someone else. Their current method of addressing the need is through relying on memory- hoping that at the grocery store they’ll remember how much and what type of fruit they have, along with when they last bought it, and that at home they’ll remember to eat it. This does not work for them, since the fruit is hidden away in a fridge drawer that is rarely opened, and the food is thrown out before they are able to remember.

Iteration No.3:

They rarely buy fruits or vegetables, as prior experiences consistently end in purchasing them and having to throw them out before being able to eat them. As such, their unmet need to be reminded of their purchase of fresh fruit developed their current solution of removing fruit from their diet- and therefore removing the problem. For them, this solution is satisfactory as it saves them money from not throwing food away. Even though they like fruit, having to buy and later throw it away without eating it pushes them away from future purchases.

Reflect:

I learned that this unmet need does span across multiple households and backgrounds. The opportunity to improve the food waste from forgotten fruits is not limited to certain demographics. It was surprising to learn that the need drove one to eliminate the purchase entirely, although they enjoy fruit, as they realized that they would not remember they had it and found it easier to save the money. Similarly, the apprehension to the notion of wasting money did not stop others from buying fruits- they simply accepted the fact that it would occur and still purchased it. Neither option was reported as efficient or entirely useful, however, as their desired outcome was to eat the fruit purchased. It was also interesting to learn that college students are becoming aware of the problem at roughly the same time, as they were not buying groceries earlier or discussing it with the parents who were.

Summarize:

Much of my original opportunity is still there after customer interactions.

My new opportunity is more accurate, as it includes how long ago the fruit was bought as well. Many mentioned this to be an important factor in whether or not to buy new fruit, or to eat the ones already purchased.

Entrepreneurs should adapt their opportunities based on customer feedback. If there is no adaptation and the product or service remains unchanged after listening to those who would use it, then customers will still remain unsatisfied and with unmet needs. The customer is who would be using the innovation, and staying firm to an original concept would undermine the existence of a solution to the problem.