This document summarizes market research conducted for a shopping cart optimization project in Germany. Surveys were conducted with supermarket managers and customers to understand pain points and opportunities. The German shopping cart market is estimated at 70 million USD annually. Most managers and customers expressed frustration with long checkout lines and wanted improvements to cart design and functionality to make shopping easier. Common suggestions included reducing cart weight and width, improving wheels, and adding features like a phone holder or shopping list organizer. The research indicates customer demands could influence stores to update outdated cart systems.

1. Stanford University / Venture Lab / Technology Entrepreneurship / Class of 2012
Opportunity Analysis Project
InnoShop
Optimisation of shopping activities

2. Concept
 Prevalent shopping trolleys and shopping tills are inconvenient for
customers. Supermarkets do not utilise potential capabilities of
currently available innovative products whose synergy would bring
benefits to sellers and buyers alike. Our team is analysing reasons
for this problem and constructing a system which supermarkets
would be willing to use.
 We offer shopping optimisation system, currently consisting of
innovative shopping trolleys with integrated bar code scanners, and
additional services enabling stores to employ those trolleys
optimally. Trolleys and supplemental articles can be sold and
rented.

3. Understanding German market size
 Distribution of the number of stores is seen in the below pie chart
A total of 23369 stores were REWE group has the most
found which were either potential to be exploited
super/hypermarkets for our business

4. German market
Estimated
Store current market
(in USD)
EDEKA 12300000
LIDL 9900000
PLUS GROUP 8520000
REWE GROUP 26817000
ALDI 12570000
~70M$ is the current market
for the shopping carts in TOTAL 70107000
Germany

5. Understanding the German Cart Market
The base for the calculation in the previous
slides is as follows:
 The cost of each shopping cart is averaged to be 50 USD
based on www.alibaba.com
 The average number of carts in stores is taken around 60
according to our observation in Hamburg, Berlin and Frankfurt
The overall estimate of the Market that our Idea can potentially
capture is certainly above 70M$

6. Survey with managers
 What differentiates your brand from the rest?
 1 manager: Supply chain management
 1 manager: Staff management
 1 manager: Store organisation
 2 managers: leadership in discount products
“We as a brand strive to be market leaders in supply chain and
currently have one of the best supply chain management
models across the industry.”
Brand Manager in Frankfurt area, 2012

7. Survey with managers
 Are you currently interested in finding new ways
to distinguish your brand?
4 Managers: yes
1 Manager : Currently no
“Results of the last financial year are not so encouraging for us
to invest in this technology right now…”
Marketing In-charge in Hamburg area, 2012

8. Survey with managers
 Would you be interested in implementing pilot
project with us?
a. 3 managers: yes
b. 2 managers: no, our current system is satisfactory
“We focus mainly on attracting selective target customers and
have various schemes to achieve it, hence I would tell you that
we value innovation, especially in technology that would help
us in brand building and thereby act as key market
differentiator ”
Marketing In-charge in Berlin area, 2012

9. Have you Would you Would you like
Survey with 20 end
ever decided use simple to have more
Participant
not to shop self-checkout compartments
users in Germany
(end user) Gender Social status
after seeing system if it to fit goods
number
a long saved you more
queue? time? conveniently?
1 M Student Yes Yes Yes
2 M Pensioner Yes Maybe Maybe
3 F Student No Yes Yes
4 F Unemployed No Yes Yes
5 F Pensioner Yes No Maybe
6 M Working Yes Yes Yes
7 F Working Yes Yes Yes
8 F Other / did not state No Maybe No
9 F Working Yes Maybe Yes
10 M Unemployed Yes Yes Yes
11 F Pensioner Yes No No
12 F Student No Maybe Yes
13 M Student Yes Yes Yes
14 M Working Yes Yes Yes
15 F Other / did not state No No Maybe
16 M Pensioner No Maybe Maybe
17 F Student Yes Yes Yes
18 M Pensioner No Maybe Yes
19 F Working Yes Yes Yes
20 M Working Yes Yes Yes
Total: 20 Female: 11 Working: 6 Yes: 13 Yes: 11 Yes: 14
Male: 9 Pensioners: 5 No: 7 Maybe: 6 Maybe: 4
Students: 5 No: 3 No: 2
Unemployed: 2
Other / did not state: 2

10. “I do not like standing in long queues. They are especially time-wasting during peak
time after I finish work, and need to go shopping. Therefore I am going to use any
checkout system if it will save time for me.”
Male student in Berlin area, 2012
“If I need to buy only 1 or 2 things fast, and see a lot of people queuing, then I
sometimes put things back and go out.”
Female pensioner in Hamburg area, 2012
“I shop at department store one time in a week, so I buy a lot of stuff at once. I
could put small and fragile items safely and conveniently into different
compartments of the cart, if only such thing existed.”
Female student in Berlin area, 2012

11. Open questions for end users (20 participants):
 What is one most annoying thing about shopping in this department store?
 15 participants: Long queues / long waiting time to be served
 3 participants: Obstructions to free moving (other carts on the way, too narrow crossings
at certain areas)
 2 participants: No opinion / no annoyance
 What do you think about the trolley you are currently using?
 11 participants stated moderate dissatisfaction
 4 participants: high dissatisfaction
 2 participants could not tell whether they like current trolley or not
 3 participants liked the cart
“I don’t like shopping at all. I mostly hate to stand waiting for a long time in a queue.
Shopping trolleys look like they are designed only to be conveniently separated from each
other, but not used for convenient shopping.”
Employed male in Hamburg area, 2012

12. Open questions for end users (20 participants):
 What main changes would be most preferred by you in the store or the cart (one
participant can give more than one suggestion)?
 13 participants: Reduce waiting time / reduce queues / install more service points
 7 participants: Improve manoeuvrability of the trolley (by reducing width / length of the cart,
improving wheels)
 7 participants: Lighter weight of the shopping cart
 5 participants: Improve wheels for better manoeuvrability
 5 participants: Have a shopping list fixing system (use a clip (similar to laundry clip) / use a
mini post board and pin attached)
 4 participants: Have a mobile phone fixing system on the shopping cart
“I don’t like shopping at all. I mostly hate to stand waiting for a long time in a
queue. Shopping trolleys look like they are designed only to be conveniently
separated from each other, but not used for convenient shopping.”
Employed male in Hamburg area, 2012

13. Customer survey link
The customers surveyed could
opt any number of changes. 20
customers participated in the
survey and this gave us some
outlook on how customers could
influence the stores to think on
improving the existing system of
the cart based on customer
demand
If this technology would have impact on less waiting time problem of
customer certainly there would be a huge opportunity and with
estimated market of our product we could built a high demand solution
to the problem.

14. Pitching the cost of our product
 Well this needs some caution as the existing system of carts costs
50$, we would need to have a price near to it for conventional
competitive strategy or follow blue ocean strategy through
innovation.
 The market space is uncontested as we would be the first to
implement an integration of such a concept.
 In this scenario the competition becomes quite irrelevant and only
market differentiator product which is low cost as well.
 This innovative shopping solution would give the first company
that adopts it a brand image and huge leverage that the later
entrants would not be as benefitted. This is well supported by the
survey results though sample was small, we believe that that’s the
normal tendency of a consumer. This would create and capture
new demand in the market.