Friday, February 7, 2020

7A Testing the Hypothesis, Part 1

1. Opportunity: Option for home residents to have a secured box implemented outside their front door to safely receive packages.

2. People often struggle with receiving packages to their home whether it's been stolen, damaged or undelivered. This leads these unsatisfied customers to spend additional time to try and get their situation figured out.

The who: People who shop online.
The what: Inconsistency with packages being delivered to homes.
The why: Packages are being stolen, damaged, or misplaced.

3. Hypothesis:

  • Testing the who: There are others that share this need, for example, people who ship packages from place to place.
  • Testing the what: How often is your package reported missing? Was it a hassle to redeem your missing package or to obtain a refund? Does this happen to anyone of your peers that you're aware of? 
  • Testing the why: In this situation, the range of whys offered typically stem from theft, damage, or misplacement. Outside of those, there are cases with certain circumstances that ultimately result in the same outcome.  

4. Interviews

35 year-old female, frequent online shopper

  • How often do you shop online? 
    • 3-5 times a week 
  • Have any of your packages been reported missing? 
    • Yes, there's been times where the package was off schedule but still showed up. Then there has been instances where the package never showed up and I had to manually take care of that. 
  • Would you consider missing a package as an inconvenience? 
    • Definitely, some companies have really long wait times on the phone and there's been instances where more than one phone call was required. 
  • Why do you continue to shop online after these delivery mishaps?
    • The main reason is the convenience factor in comparison to physically going in person. 
  • Do you wish there was a better way to facilitate deliveries? 
    • Yes, that would save me lots of time especially around holiday season! 
50 year-old male, frequent online shopper

  • How often do you shop online?
    • Roughly 4 times a week
  • Have any of your packages been reported missing?
    • At times, it happened a lot more often when I used to live in an apartment complex but since moving, that hasn't really been a significant issue. 
  • Would you consider missing a package an an inconvenience?
    • Yes, it's a long process to receive a refund or reshipment of the item. 
  • Why do you continue to shop online after these delivery mishaps? 
    • Main reason is because I work lots of hours at work so its tough to find time to go to the store.
  • Do you wish there was a better way to facilitate deliveries? 
    • Definitely, having no missing packages at all is better than having any missing package! 
25 year-old male, moderate online shopper

  • How often do you shop online? 
    • About twice a month but a lot more than that during holiday season. 
  • Have any of your packages been reported missing?
    • Yes, it actually happened relatively recently and it was a total hassle just to prove that my item was never delivered in order to receive my refund. 
  • It's evident that a missing package seems like an inconvenience, why do you continue to shop online? 
    • I feel like there are better deals online and the convenience factor also plays a part in that since I work full-time. 
  • Do you wish there was a better way to facilitate deliveries? 
    • Yes, I actually do. Some companies drop off the item at the front door and at that point it can easily be stolen or damaged. 
41 year-old female, frequent online shopper
  • How often do you shop online? 
    • Typically about 4 times a week. 
  • Have any of your packages been reported missing?
    • Yes, its definitely happened a few times. 
  • Would you consider missing a package an inconvenience?
    • My experiences with certain companies' customer service department is pretty good, however, being on the phone with these representatives does take a lot of time out of my day. 
  • Why do you continue to shop online after these delivery mishaps?
    • At the end of the day, there are better overall deals online and it's also a lot easier to compare certain products when contemplating what to purchase.
  • Do you wish there was a better way to facilitate deliveries? 
    • If it didn't cost to outrageous then yes that would definitely help ensure packages are safe and secure. 
29 year-old female, frequent online shopper
  • How often do you shop online? 
    • Roughly 4-5 times throughout the week. 
  • Have any of your packages been reported missing?
    • A couple in the past, but not of late
  • Would you consider missing a package an inconvenience?
    • It's definitely an inconvenience since the package is supposed to be at a certain place by a certain time and if it's not then it going to disappoint the customer. 
  • Why do you continue to shop online after these delivery mishaps?
    • I've always been the type to order things online since I've found it to be easier. 
  • Do you wish there was a better way to facilitate deliveries?
    • Yes, I feel like there's definitely something that can be done about this since I know many of my peers who often report missing packages. 
Summary: 

Overall, it's pretty evident that this is something that affects more people than we think. Many people expressed different types of frustration when it came to speaking with customer service to resolve a simple issue. Something that I also found out after conducting interviews is that the younger crowd are typically more passionate about online shopping and what it entails. 

5. Conducting interviews has lead to show me that people rather just receive their package the initial time and not have to go through a hassle. People have very busy lives so spending time on a call hold isn't the most ideal way to utilize their time. I also learned that geographic locations can play a deeper role than initially anticipated. 

2 comments:

  1. I think this is a very good idea. Personally, I lived at Keys Complex my freshman year and they had a big box where you put in your code and it gave you your package. I think there is definitely a market out there for this idea. Specifically, I feel like this would really work for an apartment complex because a lot of times packages are all mixed around, compared to the front desk, the front door to your complex, etc. The packages are easily mixed around. I think this would really work in an apartment complex, but I would be intrigued to see how a normal neighborhood would feel about it, specifically if the box that held packages was far away.

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  2. Your post was very well organized and all of your points were clearly laid out. I think that this is a really good idea for people who shop online very often. I personally don't shop online very often and when I do, I have never had an issue with my package, but I know that these things do happen very often so I think there is definitely a market for it.

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