Hamilton Farmers' Marketplace

Hamilton Farmers’ Marketplace: Improving virtual accessibility to the Hamilton Farmers’ Market for consumers of locally farmed goods.

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Problem Statement and Solution Description:

Prior to COVID-19, there were between 15,000 to 20,000 visits to the Hamilton Farmers' Market per week. During the pandemic, this plummeted to 5,000—a 300% decrease in overall in-person consumer visits.[1] Thus, accessibility to these goods has posed a challenge to the Hamilton Farmers’ Market and the community.[2] In order to address these accessibility challenges, a solution to increase sales of local food by way of increasing consumer access to the market must be implemented.[3][4] Technology is integral to society as it contributes to increasing access to information with ease and convenience.[5] “Hamilton Farmers’ Marketplace” is our proposed solution, which serves as an extension of the pre-existing Hamilton Farmers’ Market website. It is designed to increase user satisfaction and bolster sales through a simplistic design interface while incorporating analytics of online shopping for the Hamilton Farmers’ Market to accommodate community needs.[6]

Process, Learning, and Challenges:

We consulted specific community partners and gained a better understanding of the problem at hand. Through these consultations, we learned that some farmers already have functioning websites of their own, however, they haven’t been able to garner as much attention. In order to work around this issue, team E5 decided to incorporate a system wherein multiple farmers would collaboratively be able to sell their items as part of a unified farmers’ market, which in turn would increase consumer awareness of subsequent businesses. By conducting extensive research on how the Hamilton Farmers' Market has been affected by COVID-19, our team concluded that it would be necessary to implement a virtual platform to optimize business growth by increasing consumer accessibility, especially during the pandemic. We used Figma Wireframing to create the user interface of the prototype website and modelled specific aspects of the website to accommodate an enhanced user experience.

Functions:

“Hamilton Farmers’ Marketplace” is our proposed solution, which serves as an extension of the pre-existing Hamilton Farmers’ Market website. It is designed to increase user satisfaction and bolster sales through a simplistic design interface while incorporating analytics of online shopping for the Hamilton Farmers’ Market. It features a log-in system to accommodate 3 different stakeholders - the customers, farmers, and the Hamilton Farmers' Market organization. Customers are able to sign in and order online for pickup with ease, while the vendors (farmers) can create their own vendor page and advertise their goods online. The Hamilton Farmers’ Marketplace is not just an opportunity to feature online ordering for pickup, but can also be a gold-mine for analytics for the Hamilton Farmers' Market organization to use, including user information, trends in sales, product popularity, etc.

Next Steps:

Our next steps would be to fully develop the Hamilton Farmers’ Marketplace extension and embed it within the Hamilton Farmers’ Market website. There would also need to be specific measures taken to maintain the website and keep it up-to-date. We would need to implement a robust security system to protect sensitive data and private information such as payment details and contact information. We would need to connect with existing farmers to encourage them to participate in the virtual market, and similarly encourage consumers, via advertising, to purchase locally farmed goods. Another next step would be to further implement unique features in the website such as hosting online workshops that can range from weekly cooking tutorials to educational videos to increase interaction between the farmers and the community.

References:

[1] City Council PONDERS giving $30k to hamilton farmers' market as attendance plummets | CBC News. (2021, January 22). Retrieved February 24, 2021, from https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/hamilton-farmers-market-covid-19-budget-1.5881981 [2] Screenthink. (2021, February 19). Discover the hamilton farmers' market. Retrieved February 24, 2021, from https://hamiltonfarmersmarket.ca/ [3] Goodman, E. (2019, November 28). As farmers market sales in Canada NEAR $1.5 billion, Farmers plan for more. Retrieved February 26, 2021, from https://www.country-guide.ca/guide-business/as-farmers-market-sales-in-canada-near-1-5-billion-farmers-plan-for-more/ [4] Liza Agrba | May 4, 2., & 05/04/2020, L. (2020, May 04). "Now more than ever, we are seeing people engage with local FOOD": How ONTARIO farmers are FARING during the pandemic. Retrieved February 26, 2021, from https://torontolife.com/food/now-more-than-ever-we-are-seeing-people-engage-with-local-food-how-ontario-farmers-are-faring-during-the-pandemic/ [5] Doneria, K., & Vinodani, S. (2017). Marketing Emerging Technologies: A Business to Business Perspective Strategic Overview, Opportunities and Challenges. Amity Global Business Review, 12(2), 15–19. [6] Published: Dec 3, 2. (2019, December 02). What is UX design and How can it help a business like yours? Retrieved February 24, 2021, from https://smallbiztrends.com/2018/12/what-is-ux-design.html

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