WELOOP
Community group refill shopping delivery that comes with reusable, returnable packaging
Industry
E-commerce &
sustainability
Project duration
6 weeks
Project type
Major Project during MA UXSD
Concept statement
WeLoop is a group refill delivery service for individuals who cares about packaging waste issue but lack motivation and access to reuse and refill solutions, that encourages them to reuse and refill in returnable packaging with others in the community, overcomes the feeling of fighting packaging waste issue alone through group ordering from refill shops.
THE PROBLEM
Every product that we buy, large or small, comes in a package. It’s estimated that the world produces over a hundred million tons of plastic packaging waste a year, which is equal to 10,292 Big Bens. One-third of the plastic waste is leaked into the ecosystem, threatening human health. Financial-wise, 95% of material value from plastic packaging is lost. WeLoop is designed to combat packaging waste problem.
From the qualitative user research that was conducted to understand users' reuse and refill behaviour, attitude towards reuse and refill and their pain points, it was found that...
01
Refill stations are not always accessible and users do not want to travel for the shop due to time and cost.
02
Refill shopping less flexible compare to regular shopping. Users have to plan and prepare containers ahead so no spontaneity is allowed.
03
Users have a feeling of fighting packaging waste issue alone which makes them believe it's not possible to create any impacts.
THE SOLUTION
FEATURES OF WELOOP
01
Create synergy and enable reuse transition at different levels
WeLoop bring a wide variety of refill shops to users, just like any other online shopping platform. But here's the twist – we've partnered with these shops to provide returnable, reusable packaging. That means your purchases are delivered in containers specifically designed to be sent back, cleaned, and used again, but not go to the trash.
02
Never feel isolated in your packaging reduction journey
At WeLoop, we believe in companionship over isolation. When you join a group order, you're not just making a purchase – you're becoming part of a team that's united by a shared purpose.
If you’re looking for some eco-minded companions, the Channels, which is a space for our users to interact and exchange experience and knowledge about shifting to a zero waste lifestyle, will definitely help.
03
Reassure you of the impacts that you and your community create
To foster the change, each month, there will be a packaging reduction goal. As your community collectively work towards it, you'll earn a place on the leaderboard. You can witness the impact of your individual and combined efforts in measurable and relatable equivalence
It's more than just a ranking – it's a reflection of the collective effort and dedication.
Monthly community goal and leaderboard
Measurable and relatable reduction equivalence
DESIGN PROCESS
01 Secondary & primary user research
A mix of observation (shadowing) and interviews were done. Affinity diagram and POEMS framework were used to analyse the data. It was found that individuals who want to reduce packaging gave up refilling because:
1) the refill solutions are far from their home, and
2) they find difficult to plan ahead the time and the number of containers they need to bring for the refill shopping.
02 Ideation: Diverge, converge
I started exploring the possibilities of the solutions by having a HMWs creative session with users. The Creative matrix was also applied to generate initial concepts. With the 5 concepts I had, I held a participatory workshop with 4 users to understand more of their intrinsic values and goals, preferences in reuse and refill context and evaluate the concepts.
At last the concept was narrowed down to 'a returnable packaging solution that engages the community through group ordering from refill shops, which overcomes the feeling of fighting packaging waste issue alone'.
03 Ideation: Diverge, converge
3 more concepts variations were designed and rated by users in another workshop which helped settle on the design idea. A user testing was done with low-fidelity prototype and system mapping. It showed that the sense of community was not presented yet and the gamification seemed separated from the main service.
With another round of secondary research and ideation on sense of community, the design is iterated and tested for 3 more rounds with mid to high fidelity prototype before it is ready for launch.
04 Zoom in & zoom out
After diving deep into the features and UI of Weloop, I zoomed out to consider Weloop in the bigger system. Stakeholders from different level (user, organisation, society) were mapped out.
I also outlined the values created or conflicts inflicted to different stakeholders hence the solution to ensure Weloop's smooth roll-out.
The solution was brought to real life by the service roadmap, which frontstage and backstage interactions were considered.
The service blueprint of WeLoop
ITERATIONS EXAMPLE
An example of one of the many iterations is the flow of joining a group purchase. In the flow user can browse and join the existing group orders available in their region, and start online shopping from the specified refill shop. By joining a group order, they can share the shipping cost and reduce the the carbon emissions with other users.
Before iteration, once users click the 'join group order' button, they will see a list of group orders that are open for them to join, while the shop that they are ordering from is shown as one of the information on the card, as shown in the image on the right.
However, the user testing carried out regarding this prototype shown that this flow doesn't fit users' mental model. Users reflected that they usually have a shop that they used to buy from so the shop is the primary information they want to know or consider when making a purchase. On the other hand, it was found user would prefer to look for available group orders to join before they create a new group order.
Therefore, in the next iteration, the CTA button in home page was changed to 'start refill shopping' instead of 'join/create group order'. That will take user to a list of refill shops that Weloop partners with, then they can join the available group order, or otherwise, create a new one.
FINAL OUTPUT
Example flow of joining a group refill order on WeLoop.