Refrigerators – an essential home appliance, have become part and parcel of our life for many years now. The lifestyle of the consumers has undergone a lot of transformation over the years and so is the utility of the machine. Like any other product, the latest technological advancements and path-breaking innovations pushed the expectations to a different level altogether. Not to forget, COVID has only accelerated it further. Gone are the days when the machine was just treated as a storage area to preserve perishables. It has penetrated far beyond our imagination. Different segments of users use Refrigerators for varied needs. The utility ranges from residential and commercial markets to research requirements like preserving Pharma products & Biochemicals, etc. Hence, in terms of Product Design, the user personas vary from Senior citizens, Young Working couples, Students, Medical Professionals, Pharmacists, biochemists & Scientists etc. The working couples’ use cases always seem to be intriguing out of these personas. Hence, in this article, let us ponder the pain points faced by working couples, the latest features offered by big brands, and the potential high-tech feature pipeline of this so-called “White good”. And, also evaluate if the market is mature enough to buy into the idea of ‘high-tech’ ness.
Firstly, let us look at some “smart” features offered today by big brands like LG, Samsung, etc., built around the Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem.
1. Control temperatures with Smart Phone
2. Intelligent diagnosis with error codes
3. LED displays
4. Connected Features
Pain Points
Let us now outline some of the challenges the working couples face, who typically dedicate only a minimum amount of time in their daily lives to sort out routine things. Here are some interesting problems (read: fun facts) that I see in my home and neighbourhood.
A couple waking up late on the weekend morning, the hubby, with a bland face, starts dusting grocery bags to get ready for the grocery purchases.
After reaching the store, the wife, seemingly unclear on the buying quantity, expects hubby to guestimate the number of vegetables that can fit in the fridge, given the refrigerator can accommodate only so much. Assuming himself as the king of estimations, the hubby nods his head that this much quantity works, only to discover later that his guesstimate was horribly wrong.
Starring at the Stock Keeping Unit (SKU), the intelligent hubby trying to recollect the empty slots in the egg tray he saw just before leaving home. Unfortunately, the probability of guessing the correct number was never >0.5.
Return home only to discover that a few things planned for Purchase are missed out.
The wife, possibly, in a dilemma in deciding what dish to prepare for the next day, asks the husband for his recommendation. Only to end up doing the exact opposite of his suggestion.
Inspect if all the ingredients required for the dish scheduled for today are in place, only to discover that quite a few are missing.
Fail to utilize the perishable items in the refrigerator before expiry and end up throwing 50% of the stuff in the garbage.
The story never ends. If you are not convinced, wait for the following weekend to see the story repeat. Now, I guess you are clear about why the working couple use case always is interesting. While some of these problems appear trivial, deep-diving into these pain points presents an opportunity. The pains are nothing short of a case in point for a high-magnitude and high-frequency problem to solve for. The time constraints and other pressing priorities and the growing middle- and upper-middle-class segments’ purchasing power seem to make them good use cases for the brands to capitalize on.
Potential Solutions
Now, let us brainstorm some of the features that could potentially resolve the pains to a reasonably good level, if not completely.
An ability to keep track of all the groceries and order them again (Alexa or other Digital Assistants) based on a certain reorder point pre-configured by the consumer.
An ability to have an inbuilt camera to capture the groceries and quantity in real-time and notify if something is abnormal.
An ability to recommend favourite dishes based on the day of the week basis the available items in the fridge.
An ability to notify the consumer if the item is nearing the expiry date
Are the high-tech expectations overkill? I don’t think so. Are these viable? Maybe. Do these features seem feasible in the first place? I am not sure; this is for Technical experts to answer. However, with the rapid technological advancements we see every year, this doesn’t seem far from reality. I’m sure the big brands must be testing the hypothesis for some of these ideas.
May the big brands prioritize these high-tech requirements in the backlog to help the working couples live life happily ever after 🙂