DoorDash Redesign
Redesigning DoorDash for student meal plans
CONTEXT
Motivation
As a college sophomore living off-campus with a limited meal plan, I struggle to maintain a healthy diet due to my unpredictable class schedule. While I can cook some meals, many times I end up ordering from DoorDash on short notice. However, the added service and delivery fees, which can be 15-25% of the order cost, are unsustainable.
After an entire semester of unsustainable purchases, missed meals, and unhealthy foods, I started to wonder if DoorDash could approach this problem a different way.
BACKGROUND
DoorDash Business Model
Before delving into college students' needs, let's examine DoorDash's current business model. DoorDash operates with three key stakeholders: merchants, dashers, and consumers. They typically take 15-30% of the order cost from merchants and charge customers additional service and delivery fees, totaling 15-25% of the order. DoorDash compensates dashers with a portion of these fees and uses the remainder to sustain its operations.
DoorDash has a problem…
Merchants are leaving the platform:
With 46 pages of risks, DoorDash’s 10K report reveals that existing merchants are gradually leaving the platform due to high merchant fees.
“If we fail to retain our existing merchants and consumers or acquire new merchants and consumers in a cost-effective manner, our revenue may decrease and our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely affected” - 2022 DoorDash 10k
Lack of customer loyalty:
According to McKinsey & Co, the large overlap of usage of other delivery platforms brings up concerns of long term customer loyalty.
Could we increase customer loyalty through partnerships between merchants and college students?
UXR
User Interviews
To uncover the pain points merchants and buyers, I conducted 6 user interviews with college students and local restaurant owners.
“I tried ordering a $12 meal on DoorDash and was charged three additional $5 fees. I wish I had a better option”
- Ranvir Singh, sophomore at UCSC
“It is extremely difficult for me to accurately forecast demand. I wish DoorDash helped with that”
- Paul Kim, owner of HB Premium Cafe in San Jose, CA
⛳️ Key Takeaways:
Affordability
College students need a cheaper option for delivery meals
Scheduling
College students would like the ability to easily schedule many meals in advance
Retention
DoorDash is selling the same customers back to Merchants and not adding new customers
Predictability
Merchants cannot accurately predict demand
SOLUTION
DoorDash Meal Plan
To tackle the challenges faced by college students and merchants, I developed a new solution within DoorDash called the DoorDash Meal Plan.
DESIGN PROCESS
Ideation
For the solution, I wanted to walk through the journey of a student singing up, and scheduling meals through DoorDash app.
User Flow:
Low Fidelity Wireframe:
FINAL DESIGN
Solution Walkthrough
Quick & easy sign-up
Students can quickly subscribe to a meal plan based on how many meals they want a week. The price automatically adapts and recommends the monthly plan. In-app payment is quick and simple using Apple Pay
Food Preferences
Students can easily pick what restaurants they prefer to eat from. As restaurants are selected, similar options appear in order to streamline the selection process
Set Delivery Times
The user will be prompted with a recommended spread of delivery times based on the number of meals and dates provided. The user can easily adjust these dates/times, which will be used to plan future meals
Set Meals
Users will be suggested a spread of meals that match their preferences and delivery times. From here, users can choose to continue, or adjust the time and cuisine of each meal. This streamlines the subscription process while allowing users flexibility with food choices
Monthly Meal Schedule
From the home page, users will be auto-assigned meals based on previous order history and preferences. Users can easily add or adjust meals for each week from this home page
Final Prototype:
LOOKING BACK
Final Thoughts
What started as a simple design challenge ended up becoming much more complicated. Instead of focusing on one small feature, I decided to tackle the pain points of the college student by decreasing the delivery cost. However, the deeper I explored this concept, the more holes I was able to poke in the idea. In an ideal world, this concept would work out: hundreds of merchants sign up to create cheaper meals for college students, college students get discounted scheduled meals, and dashers are able to deliver meals in group orders. The primary issue with this is the age-old “chicken and egg” problem: without subscribed customers, merchants will not agree to this plan and vice versa. These are just some of the many problems I encountered during this case study.
Though this idea may not succeed, it has prompted me to explore other areas of potential growth.
For example, ghost kitchens could be implemented throughout a college town to serve a variety of different foods for college students. Meals could be offered at a very cheap price point if students subscribe, providing recurring revenue.
The idea of group deliveries could also significantly decrease delivery fees. If a collective group of college students order all of their meals to the same apartment complex at the same time, DoorDash deliveries may see more college students.
Additionally, with customer loyalty being an issue in a competitive market, gaining university partnerships and attracting college students may transform them into lifetime consumers.
In the end, this project not only served as a great design challenge, but it also exercised my product thinking skills
APPENDIX
PR/FAQ
In creating this new concept, I employed Amazon’s Working Backwards methodology which I learned as an intern at AWS. This strategy involves defining the customer experience then iteratively working backwards until the team achieves clarity of thought around what to build. The primary component of this strategy is a written exercise called a PR/FAQ. In light of this, I wrote a mock Press Release under the hypothetical scenario that DoorDash Meal Plan is introduced to the public. This helps to clarify the problem statement and solution idea from a customer perspective.
