“SimplyFresh " A consumer engagement solution for effective consumer participation in organic initiatives and earning awareness in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Organic food has gained popularity around the world due to its nutritional benefits and has now become a symbol of fashion and status. Many organizations are now coming up with different intermediaries and IT platforms to sell organic produce around the world. The concept of organic food has now reached Sri Lanka and many organizations and government in Sri Lanka have created different channels to offer consumers organic produce. But it is quite evident that not all consumers get to indulge in chemical free fresh organic produce such as vegetables, fruits, herbs and green leaves which is unfair as all consumers are entitled to access food that are nutritious and healthy and to be given a choice. Hence it is quite obvious that there are many issues with the current organic initiative program in Sri Lanka, such as lack of awareness on conventional and organic produce, negative attitude and perception, limited accessibility to organic produce, price and certification which has led to consumers not engaging in current organic initiatives. Based on this background, the project aims to analyze why consumers don’t participate in organic initiative and design and develop an IT solution where all consumers can participate in purchasing organic produce. The project focuses on making organic produce available for the consumers to purchase at a reasonable price at the same time focuses on aiding women and retired people to earn an income. An effective conceptual framework was created incorporating the IT solution where factors such as health, effort, quality, status, price, safety, trust, value and economy were analyzed and validated via interviews and questionnaires. Both the conceptual framework and IT solution focuses on streamlining organic initiatives with consumer participation.