Alnico's Research
Is technology a covid hero for hawkers?
OVERVIEW
Alnico Consulting aims to follow up on the difficulties hawkers are facing during covid times. The research was made to uncover various business owners' challenges when adapting to technologies that were repeatedly shared and applauded via mainstream media.
MY ROLE
UX Researcher
Understanding people: As this was a non-paid project, I could only interact with business owners during the non-peak period, hoping that they would be open to speaking up to me. 5 interviews were done successfully, with business owners ranging from their 30s to 80 years old. The research unearthed the following themes:
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What compels hawkers to adopt technology?
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How does hawker location determine Covid’s impact and corresponding solutions for their businesses?
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Who are e-payments and delivery platforms designed for – customers or hawkers?​
KEY FINDINGS
Hawkers adopt technology solely to maintain their income levels:
They only considered using technology when they saw a drop in income; they are not seeking radical innovations to transform the way their businesses work, nor are they strategising to massively grow their businesses or income levels. How well technology can help to rebound their Covid-induced drop in revenues, cover their operation costs and maintain their living standards is the main factor in deciding platform to adopt.
Lower stakes for hawkers in the heartlands:
With Covid driving a majority of professionals to work from home, hawker and coffee shop businesses in the heartlands seem to have benefited, with these stay-home professionals coming by to get their lunch on weekdays. Two of our interviewees with 2 or more stalls reported an increase in income in heartlands and observed the opposite in the central business district (CBD).
Platforms are surprisingly penalising:
Delivery platforms seem to trust the customers more than hawkers or coffee shop owners. While great for customer service, this becomes problematic when it comes to dishonest customers.
Loss of businesses during platform glitches:
When the system stops working, many have reported that it takes a few days for it to be fixed, thus losing the business they could have gotten via delivery that few days, a difference that can determine their ability to cover rent for the month.
Interesting observations:
Technology can also be well adopted by elderlies: An 80-year-old hawker we interviewed who owns three drink stalls says she sees the benefit of QR code payments because it saves her the time and effort to manually bank in her takings.
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An effective way of working around the issue of an illiterate staff using technology: A business owner got frustrated with his staff who constantly screenshot and requires him to voice message the order to his staff created a glossary list matching words with pictures that allows his staff to recognise and understand the orders, even while being unable to read. An example is shown below.
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Takeaways:
When establishing the business value of design, it is vital to understand all the users involved. For a digital platform, this includes customers, hawkers, and any other party managing the front and back ends of the platform. For any one group of users, it is also important to analyse in detail how using the platform weaves into their daily routine. Ultimately, it is ease and convenience that we want to bring to our users. Technology isn’t always cutting edge, but can be simple usable solutions.
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When there’s a shift to integrate technology into work, resistance is something to be expected, and if we don’t design around it, there’ll always be challenges around successful adoption. By deepening our understanding of the hawkers and how they work, we bring the focus on the humans using the system – which can then ensure that the designed solution benefits everyone in question.
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Full article here: https://alnico.sg/blog/is-technology-a-covid-hero-for-hawkers/