The main goal of the research was to understand the goals, motivations, and pain points of the international students so that we could design a better solution for them.
The Approach
Interviews
We recruited six international students and conducted semi-structured interviews. Interviewing international students lead us to determine that price was of most interest to our specific interviewees, with the most cost-efficient produce being pursued rather than quality.
Observations
Observations helped us to keep track of where people went in the store, whether they looked at the prices when picking up or putting down an item, how often they approached clearance sections and differentiated between the demographics such as age. During an observation of whole foods, I noticed a young couple that walked straight to the section where different products were offered on extra clearance. They picked up the item, and then set it down demonstrating that perhaps it was not the item they wanted, but the price factor leads them to visit the section anyways.