My FoodPanda Idea — Case Study

Photo by Clem Onojeghuo on Unsplash

Disclaimer: This project is done in the pursuit of education and discussion, and bears no affiliation to FoodPanda.

In Singapore (and possibly other parts of Asia), after every meal, it is usually accompanied by beverages/desserts. Just take a look around during lunch hour in a populated CBD area, 8 out of 10 will almost certainly be holding a cup of beverages, either bubble tea (look at how bubble tea businesses are booming) or fruit juices purchased from the drinks vendor after their meal. It has certainly become part of our culture!

Goal: To incorporate that consumer’s behaviour right into the platform, inline with FoodPanda’s mission, to deliver fuss-free online ordering and food convenience.

Time and cost saving meets food pleasures.

*In this case study, I will be focusing on FoodPanda’s mobile application instead of the portal.

Feature

User story — As a customer for the food delivery service, I want to be able to complete my meal with a drink from a different store.

User problem — Customers would have to incur additional delivery cost if they were to place a separate delivery order for their beverages/desserts.

Feature description — Allow customers to place an order for beverages/dessert from a different vendor within the same order for their main. The same only nearby vendors rule applies to the secondary order.

User value — With the allow for mixed orders, customers would be able to have their favourite beverages/desserts to complete their meal. Benefits the rider(s), as they could fulfil more orders per customer. Increased revenue per trip.

Assumptions — Majority of the customers are disheartened that they are not able to complete their meal with beverages/desserts from a different vendor while placing an order for food delivery. Our riders are not skeptical to fulfil more orders per customer.

The platform is able to logically estimate the delivery time, taking into consideration the additional time spent for riders to fulfil the secondary order within the same order.

Not doing — Supports businesses that are not on beverages and dessert. Supports self pick-up services.

Market Study

With the recent announcement of the extension of the Circuit Breaker by the
Singapore government to combat Covid-19, essential services have been further curtailed from the list. Bubble tea businesses are one of the casualties. In light of this, LiHo, together with GrabFood, swiftly established partnerships with various food vendors to offer their popular drinks selection to their partners’ customers.

The concept introduced is very similar to the feature that was discussed in this document.

Fig 1. LiHo Tea’s Instagram post; Fig 2. Consumers’ response

Fig 3. Consumer’s response(2); Fig 4. LiHo’s partner in GrabFood

Fig 5. LiHo’s partner in GrabFood(2); Fig 6. Checkout with orders from LiHo and its partner

Concept Testing

The process of evaluating consumer’s acceptance of the new feature prior introduction to the market. The proposed strategy as follows,

• Survey — an incentive programme, monetary or non-monetary rewards, targeted at consumers who have been a regular to FoodPanda.
• Minimum viable product (MVP) — implement an option to allow rider(s) to prompt customers about their interest in a secondary order, focus on beverages/desserts, and usually with limited options to begin with. This can test not only on customers’ take up rate for a mixed order, but also test on rider(s) willingness to provide such services.
• Shadow button — build a secondary order button (eg. “Get your drinks/dessert”) on the checkout page, clicking on the button leads to a screen to inform customers that the feature is coming soon. These clicks will be tracked, and can be a form of metrics to gauge customers’ interest in the new feature.
• Explainer videos — can be in a tutorial format where it showcases the benefits of the new feature, except the feature does not exist yet. Video can be great to excite users and garner response. Data can be tracked from thereon. Besides, the video will not go to waste as it can be used later on to explain the feature after it was built.

Mockups

Fig 7. Option “Complete your meal” on home screen; Fig 8. Listing of participating vendors

Fig 9. Displays the selection of drinks upon clicking on the vendor; Fig 10. Placing an order for a beverage/dessert

Fig 11. Checkout with mixed orders. Option to order with beverages/desserts is also available on screen; Fig 12. Prompting customers about their overwriting action on their existing beverage/dessert order.

Success Metrics

List of metrics that will be used to monitor success since it was introduced.

• Baseline tracking — total number of times the feature are being used, the number of unique customers, the percentage of the total regular customers.
• Customer retention — For those who used the feature vs those who don’t, how often do they revisit FoodPanda again. And how likely they come back with a fresh order with/without using the new feature.
• Conversion — How many confirmed orders contain mixed order and non mixed order. The conversion rate between order with mixed order vs non mixed order — were the riders having difficulty meeting the demand?
• Understand what customer are doing when making order — Visualise customers’ sequence of actions. Is the new feature not apparent to the customers?
• Efficiency — Measure the average amount of mixed orders per rider. High number indicates the acceptance of such order among riders.

Originally written in May of 2020.