Idea 4: Online food shopping - an alternative experience.

Using Ocado as an example, but most online supermarkets work in a similar way.

• You have the option to choose a recipe you like.
•  All the ingredients needed are listed.
• You then have to select each ingredient individually to add it to the shopping basket or, alternatively, you can select "Add everything".

The idea flips this logic on it's head.

Let us take this Spinach Lasagne from Ocado as example.

Ingredients

• 250g Spinach Lasagne sheets
• 500g Tomato Passata
• 2 Garlic Cloves
• 4 tbsp Olive Oil
• 500ml Milk
• 2 tbsp Plain Flour
• 2 tbsp Butter
• 1 pinch Salt
• 1 pinch Pepper
• 1 pinch Nutmeg
• 3 leaves Fresh Basil
• 1 ball Mozzarella, diced
• 1 cup Parmesan Cheese, freshly grated

All 13 these ingredients will cost me £16.36. But I have garlic, olive oil, milk, butter, salt and pepper in my pantry.

After removing these 6 ingredients, I am left with a total cost of £9.87 (60% of the original value) for the 7 ingredients I need to buy.

Currently, I am ADDING ingredients to a shopping trolley. I see the total cost rising with each addition and it "feels" like I am spending money.

Alternatively, you can re-design this whole "buying-from-a-recipe" experience as follows;

• You select a recipe and immediately it shows you the total cost in case you wanted to buy all of the ingredients. 
• The shoper now DE-SELECTS those items that he/she does not require. You see the total cost decrease with each de-selection and it "feels" like you are saving money. 

The argument against this is that it will put the buyer off as all recipes will initially seem very expensive. That is easily remedied by adding two additional costs along with the total potential cost of buying all the ingredients; 

i) Average cost per serving and ii) The average amount people who bought the ingredients for this recipe spent on it.  Looking at these two indicators, customers can then get a very clear understanding of how much they can expect to pay. 

The small amount of customers being put off by this "flip around" should be far less than those appreciating a more honest way to estimate the cost of recipes. It is also much easier to de-select what you do not want as opposed to select what you do want - adding to the overall experience.

To test if you agree is simple. 

• Register on Ocado.
• Select a recipe with 8 or more ingredients.
• Click on "Add everything" to see the total cost - note this down.
• Now de-select all items you do have in your kitchen (e.g., salt, pepper and milk) whilst keeping an eye on the total cost of your basket.

Do you find it quicker to de-select those items you already have?

Does it "feel" like you are saving money when seeing the price drop each time?

This can be implemented by the online shops themselves or by a "compare-the-market" type online shop where you shop from recipes pulling from various supermarkets.

Looking forward to hear your thoughts.