Design Research

Statistics and Demographics

  • “…from 1990 to 2011, an average of 66 children a day wound up in emergency rooms after injuries sustained in and near them [grocery carts].” (Bakalar)

 

  • “Researchers studied children under 15 and made estimates of injuries based on a sample of emergency room visits in 100 hospitals nationwide. Most of the injured were children under 4 who fell out of a cart, and more than 90 percent of their wounds were to the head. Carts tipping over, running into or falling over the cart, and entrapment of extremities accounted for the rest of the damage.” (Bakalar)

 

  • “Over all ages, about 80 percent of injuries were to the head, 14 percent to the upper extremities, and 6 percent to the lower extremities. In the 22 years covered by the study, about 16,500 children were injured seriously enough to be admitted to a hospital.” (Bakalar)

 

  • “An estimated 530 494 children younger than 15 years were treated in US emergency departments for shopping-cart-related injuries from 1990 to 2011, averaging 24 113 children annually. The most commonly injured body region was the head (78.1%). The annual concussion/closed head injury rate per 10 000 children increased significantly (P< .001) by 213.3% from 0.64 in 1990 to 2.02 in 2011.” (Martin)

 

  • “Although a shopping cart safety standard was implemented in the United States in 2004, the overall number and rate of injuries associated with shopping carts have not decreased. In fact, the number and rate of concussions/closed head injuries have continued to climb. Increased prevention efforts are needed to address these injuries among children.” (Martin)

 

  • Based on the following statistics the majority of shopping cart injuries involve children ages 15 and under.  In most cases the injuries are a result of the children falling out of the cart.  The range of children’s ages has not changed, and the safety issue with these shopping carts has not improved.  Our goal as a group is to not only make a grocery cart that is efficient for one handed users, but to also provide a safer alternative for all users.

 

Current Products

While many different adaptive products exist in the shopping cart market, there are three that significantly stand out above the rest.

Product A:  Rolling Shopping Basket- ULine

  • Size: 20″ x 15″ x 18”
  • Price: $32.50
  • Reviews: The telescoping handle and easy grip carry handle are favorable but the overall size of the cart is too small and does not hold enough groceries.

Product B: Poppy Square Shopping Cart

  • Size: 12″ x 13″ x 47”
  • Price: $59.00
  • Reviews: Customers favor how the handle is adjustable and can be set at different heights for each specific person. Dislike that the handle is not strong enough to lift entire cart (such as when customers are going up steps). Overall customers view this product as not built to last.

Product C: Hook and Go Portable Folding Supermarket Shopping Cart

  • Size:45″ x 22”
  • Price: $59.95
  • Reviews: Dislike how hard it is to carry a lot of items because of how heavy it gets. This is because in order to roll it the customer must tip it. Customers also dislike how this cart is only designed for plastic bags. Making one trip (instead of 2-3) from car to house is favorable.

Each of these products helps with carrying objects, making maneuverability easier, and overall increasing the convenience of the shopping cart for the consumer. These products can be purchased on many popular sites, including Amazon and are manufactured both by machinery and manual labor. There is no need for a specifically designed left-or- right-handed product because on each product the wheels turn in a 360 rotation and are capable of being used by either consumer.

 

Standards and Best Practices

While there aren’t necessarily professional standards to the way one grocery shops, there are professional standards set on the accessibility and accommodation of people with disabilities. There are no existing standards of training for amputees but there are disability rights in place that apply to grocery shopping experiences. (Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund)

 

As far as training for people who have to adapt to some sort of amputee disability, the Amputee Coalition’s mission is “To reach out to and empower people affected by limb loss to achieve their full potential through education, support and advocacy, and to promote limb loss prevention.” (Amputee Coalition)

 

Industry-accepted best practices include the overall grocery shopping experience. In a typical grocery store, the layout is designed so that you, the shopper, are drawn to each part of the store in an effort to get you to buy more items. Most grocery stores put an emphasis on the great prices and wide variety of goods they provide.

 

While professional approaches to grocery shopping differ based on the shopper, the grocery store and the location, the experience remains the same: all stores are designed to make putting things in your cart as easy and effortless as possible through a number of strategies. Best practices include, but aren’t limited to, coming prepared with a grocery list, knowing the layout of your preferred grocery store and finding the best prices while shopping. For people with disabilities like an amputee, there are organizations and regulations that provide guidelines on how people should approach certain activities. While there are no concrete methods to grocery shopping for amputees, there are many regulations in place that make it a better experience.

Current Events

Recently Target has invested a new line of shopping cart’s called Caroline’s Carts, they are shopping carts modified to accommodate both children and adults with mobility related disabilities. The new cart offers a larger seat that is nestled inside the front handlebar of the cart. The new design will ultimately eliminate the obstacle of pushing both a cart and wheelchair simultaneously. Caroline’s Cart aims address the needs of a caregiver to attend to their dependent while completing the essential task of grocery shopping. This is just one example of how a simple modification to the shopping cart can alter the entire grocery shopping experience for an array of consumers. 

The Walmart corporation has just recently invested in a new type of technology that would allow for self-driven shopping carts. This system would link to a device such as a consumer’s smartphone and the cart would then be directed by the shopper via an app type platform. The new technology would not only benefit the consumer experience, but it would increase the efficiency of corperation internally as well. Walmart’s patent for this innovative hands free technology is cutting edge and the company intends to debut it sometime in the future.

The grocery shopping industry is centuries old and an experience almost the entire population takes part in. Adapting it to fit the needs such wide range of consumers is a continuous task. From small improvements to major innovation every change has an influence on the entire experience itself. Our focus is on improving the grocery cart encounter for a specific demographic, amputees. Target is a perfect example of how small adaptations and enhancements to current techniques can better serve a specific set of consumers, in their case, caregivers. The difficulties of navigating a cart through narrow aisles and around many obstacles takes more effort than most of us realize. Imagine attempting this task one handed. The hands free technology Walmart plans to put into effect in the future could improve not only the shopping experience for all consumers, but especially for amputees. Eliminating the task of pushing a cart would alter the entire experience and difficulties many amputees encounter while shopping. Although this technology would be super beneficial, it will probably not be seen in stores for some time. The current grocery shopping experience can leave amputees at a loss when it comes to enjoying or even easing through such basic task.  

 

 

 

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