GrocerEase. 

September - December. 2014

East Boston. Massachusetts

By all statistical standards, East Boston is a food desert, an urban, low-income neighborhood without ready access to fresh, healthy and affordable food. Upon visiting the area and speaking with residents, however, we learned that East Boston is, in fact, teeming with small grocery stores and fruit and vegetable markets. Confused by the contradiction, we dove into understanding why. These markets are often highly unorganized, cluttered, dirty, and small. They do not have room to supply everything so they supply a lot of a few items, like canned goods. Because the majority of residents walk to the store and must carry their groceries home, they tend to grab only a few items. This prevents the store owners from attentively stocking the shelves, and creates issue with keeping produce fresh. To address the needs of the consumer, we developed a digital platform that lessens time and hassle spent inside the store. To aid the store owner, GrocerEase keeps digital track of supply and demand.