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Name Jonathan CharltonNetID jcha757Group Number: 29Website Link: http://infosys1102014fcgroup29.blogspot.co.nz/

Tutorial DetailsTutor: Day: Time:Claris Monday 1pm

Time Spent on Assignment: 25 hours Word Count: 1649

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VIRTUAL PANTRY – A MODERN APPROACH TO FOOD MANAGEMENT.

INTRODUCTION

Global food wastage is a serious problem, especially in first world countries. In NZ, avoidable

food wastage costs ~NZ$751 million per year, while in the US, this figure is closer to NZ$50

billion (Waste Not Consulting, 2013, p.7). Major causes include food expiring before

consumption, poor management (not using what you buy), and behavioural aspects. The

Virtual Pantry concept attempts to positively influence these issues through the use of IT,

and IS. The app does this by automatically logging supermarket purchases, alerting the

customer about food which is almost expired, offering recipes using only the products the

customer has (maximising usage, ensuring items aren’t forgotten), and generating shopping

lists based on previous purchases.

3. BUSINESS SECTION

3.1 Vision

“To create a service that uses the tools of the modern world to reduce food waste, allowing

more of this scarce resource to be used in the furtherance of humanity, making the world a

better place for future generations.”

3.2 Industry Analysis: Personal Organisational App Industry

Industry: Personal Organisational App Industry. This is a subsection of the app industry that

includes list making apps, calendars, and reminders.

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Force: High/Low: Justification:

Buyer power: High Buyers have a lot of choice in this industry. There

are many apps in the market which accomplish

similar tasks, for similar prices, with no switching

costs. E.g. a customer could choose between

Pushpins, Anylist, Fantastical 2, Groceries,

Reminders, Evernote, etc., when choosing an

effective way to write a list on their smartphone

(Kazmucha, 2013).

Supplier power: Low Individual suppliers do not have a huge influence

on this industry. There are also only a handful of

major outlets for smartphone apps (Apple App

Store, Android Marketplace, Google Play Store)

(Suter, 2012).

Threat of new entrants: High It is easy for almost anyone to create a

smartphone app and get it published on either

the Apple App Store, or the Android Marketplace

(Nystedt, 2010), and new apps are appearing

constantly, with an average of 2,371 new apps

being published each day (Koetsier, 2013).

Threat of substitutes: High Organisation isn’t bound to smartphones, and the

apps are generally virtual representations of real

life tools (e.g., Evernote acts as a virtual notepad,

the Calendar app replicates a calendar). Pen and

paper is a major substitute for these kinds of

applications, and a significant portion of people

don’t use calendars or lists for organisation in the 3

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first place. There is also a large threat of

substitute apps within the industry with no

switching costs (Kazmucha, 2013).

Rivalry among existing

competitors:

High All of the above factors combined, create a

picture of high rivalry within the industry. The

amount of competitors offering the same solution

is a major factor in this assessment, and many

apps can be forgotten about by customers

because of this intense rivalry (Koetsier, 2013).

Overall attractiveness: This industry is not attractive. There is intense competition,

competitors are constantly exiting and entering, buyers hold the power while suppliers must

follow specific channels just to get their apps published, and the threat of substitutes is

large (with some people not needing the benefits of the industry at all). However, with such

low barriers to entry, it may still be worth it for developers to take a chance in the industry,

especially if they can see an unfilled niche in the market, and provide a differentiated

product.

3.3 Customers/Needs

Virtual Pantry is targeted towards family shoppers. These people shop and cook for the rest

of the family, and need a quick and easy way to track what they have at home for meal

planning, and get simple recipe ideas using what they have at home, without

forgetting/wasting any items or spending hours researching. Cooking (including planning

and cleaning up) for a family is the most time consuming type of housework (Wendy90,

2012), while another survey of Americans found that 21% say they don’t have time to cook,

and 66% say that grocery shopping is the most time consuming chore (Durand, 2011), so

time saving applications are valuable to this customer segment.

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3.4 Product/Service

When you buy groceries, a QR code is printed on the receipt. When scanned by the Virtual

Pantry app, all products purchased and their expiry dates are loaded into the app (removing

tedious data entry, saving time). The app now knows what products you have, and their

expiry. It will suggest recipes using these products, influenced by when they expire.

Shopping lists are generated when the customer deletes items they’ve used from the app.

This saves time for the customer by automatically generating their shopping lists, suggesting

recipes, and providing the information needed to plan meals.

3.5 Suppliers/Partners

Suppliers include programmers, and graphic designers. Programmers supply the technical

ability to create and maintain the app. Graphic designers supply the creation of an

appealing/navigable GUI.

Partners include supermarkets, and online recipe databases. Supermarkets implement our

system (allowing us to use their information about individual customer purchases) and we

will create value for them (customer satisfaction/competitive advantage). Online recipe

databases allow us to link customers to their services through our app, creating value by

sharing our customers with them.

3.6 Strategy: Cost Leadership

Our strategy is Cost Leadership because our competitive scope is broad (supermarket

shoppers are a broad market with many participants). The price of the product is low (cheap

to develop and distribute an app, free or ~$1.00 is the usual price for this type of product for

the customer).

3.7 VCA: Marketing and Selling

The most important VCA for this business is Marketing and Selling. This is because we have a

virtual product, that doesn’t require many raw materials or manufacturing, and can be

delivered easily to anyone by being downloaded. The value comes from widespread use,

and to achieve success in this industry, effective marketing must sell the app to as many

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people as possible, and remain in view of the public. The app will only have a significant

impact on food waste if it is widely used, and so it must be marketed to many to achieve our

vision. Marketing broadly also directly links to our strategy as we are targeting a broad

market.

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3.8 Business Processes

3.8.1. SELLING PROCESS – From purchasing the app to being able to use it. This is crucial to

our VCA, as getting the software into the hands of the consumer is imperative to success.

This process encompasses the entire purchasing process, from the initial request, through

payment, authorization, and starting the download.

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3.8.2. ADVERTISING PROCESS – The app’s widespread use is crucial to our strategy, vision and

VCA. Advertising is the main way to get market recognition, therefore, developing an

effective advertising process crucial. The process is on-going, and includes defining goals,

implementing campaigns, and assessment.

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3.9 Functionalities

3.9.1. SELLING PROCESS

Authorize customer download Email customer invoice

3.9.2. ADVERTISING PROCESS

Measure quantifiable campaign results Compare campaign results to goals

3.10 Systems

3.10.1. APP DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM – This system supports the customer’s purchase, through

the functionalities of automatically checking the customer’s app store balance and

authorizing the download, and automatically emailing the invoice to the customer. This

system supports our vision by using the tools of the modern world, to facilitate the wide

distribution of our product.

3.10.2. ADVERTISING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM – This system automatically monitors the

effectiveness of a marketing/advertising campaign, quantifying its success by measuring the

increase/decrease in various KPI’s (such as downloads), and by comparing these results to

the goals of the campaign, and making this information accessible to the marketing

department. This system supports our vision by providing insight into how advertising

efforts are affecting public recognition, and facilitating widespread distribution.

3.10.3. CUSTOMER STORING SYSTEM –This system allows us to easily see how many people

are using the app, and the demographics of our customers. It does this by automatically

logging them when the app is downloaded and allowing departments to easily view and

segment them into different groups, providing a deeper understanding of the market. The

system automatically captures data and transforms it, delivering information, which can be

used to market the app more effectively, and reach a broader market, directly helping to

achieve our vision.

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3.11. Summary Table

Value Chain Activity

Processes Functionalities Specific Information System(s)

Broad Information System(s)

Marketing

and Selling

1. Selling Process 1. Authorize customer download

2. Email customer invoice

App Distribution System

Customer Storing System

TPS

TPS3. Advertising

Process

1. Measure quantifiable campaign results

2. Compare campaign results to goals

Advertising Management System

Customer Storing System

TPS

TPS/DSS

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CONCLUSION

Our Business idea was to solve the issue of domestic food waste through developing a tool

which helped consumers to plan and prepare for the meals they cook for themselves, and

their family, by converting data (the products that they have) into information (recipes

involving those products), with as little user input as possible. This was achieved through IS,

and IT, (e.g. QR code scanning, automatic recipe suggestions) which removed manual input

from the user, making the tool faster, easier, and more adaptive, than would have been

possible without these tools.

REFERENCES

1. Waste Not Consulting. (2013). Summary of Existing Information on Domestic Food Waste. Retrieved From http://www.wasteminz.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/Report-on-Food-Waste-in-NZ-2013-Final-1.1.pdf

2. Kazmucha, Allyson. (2013). Best shopping and grocery list apps for IPhone: Pushpins, Anylist, and more!. Retrieved from http://www.imore.com/best-shopping-and-grocery-list-apps-iphone-pushpins-anylist-and-more

3. Nystedt, Dan. (2010). Google App Inventor Lets Anyone Make Smartphone Apps. Retrieved from http://www.pcworld.com/article/200887/google_app_inventor_lets_anyone_make_android_smartphone_apps.html

4. Koetsier, John. (2013). 700k of the 1.2m apps available for iPhone, Android and windows are zombies. Retrieved from http://venturebeat.com/2013/08/26/700k-of-the-1-2m-apps-available-for-iphone-android-and-windows-are-zombies/

5. Wendy90. (2012). The most time consuming housework. Retrieved from http://www.essayforum.com/writing-feedback-3/most-time-consuming-housework-bar-chart-for-37566/

6. Durand, Faith. (2011). Excuses, Excuses: Americans’ Top Reasons for Not Cooking. Retrieved from http://www.thekitchn.com/excuses-excuses-americans-top-155900

7. Suter, Figge. (2012). Analysis of the app market based on Michael Porter’s five competitive forces. Retrieved from http://www.thekitchn.com/excuses-excuses-americans-top-155900

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