Field Visit – Design Less; Design Right

27.3.19: We decided to visit the big bazaar store to check out the offer. The offer said, ‘The Great Xchange’. In reality it was just a marketing gimmick. They simply gave it all away to scrap.

While walking through the aisles, I felt the familiar euphoric feeling accompanied by a desperate need to own those things. So many bottles, attractive labels, delicious looking colours, textures, great promises on packages of making you healthy, of satisfying some tastebuds etc. I realised that inspite of reading about consumerism, thinking before buying, I still wanted to own those things. Of course, if you teach generations of designers to work on making people buy things, that will be the result. What if we can use the same knowledge to make users buy the right things? Consume Right? How would I be as a business person? Would I also say ‘20% free’ or urge my buyers to buy more than they need just for profit?

Here are a few ads published by them. The trap in the deal? The customer could avail the offer only on purchases above 1000 Rs/- So wait a minute, Arent we gonna consume more things just for the sake of redeeming the offer ?

15.3.19 : We visited the shop Computer electronic exchange in Ahmedabad One mall to learn about how their business works. CEX is a UK based company with many outlets around the world. Now, it deals mostly with mobile phones. Their shop contained so many models of electronics that were used for some time and disposed off. These were the lucky pieces though, that would get a second life. They would only take the electronics that were in perfect working condition after a 45 minutes test.

Insights:

-A good system for material complex products which are not easily recycled or disassembled? Or is it encouraging consuming newer gadgets, sooner than you require?

-Combines video games and electronics. They identified the audience

-Has in trend products

-Extends the life span of a product

-Good returns promotes exchange, which in turn ensures cycling of goods

We decided to look a little deeper into how things might work at the back end. How do such models of business affect consumption? Do they ensure a good system for material collection? Are they economically viable?