arth | venture design
a platform for pre-loved furniture
arth is a part of the final project for my course Sustainable Business Models at my program Strategic Design & Management at Parsons School of Design.
Total time for the project: 8 Weeks | Professor: Jen Van Der Meer
For me, moving to New York has made me experience and observe a lot of unique things about the city. One such experience has been moving into an apartment and sourcing furniture. As an international student, there are a lot of variables when it comes to sourcing furniture. ‘arth’ was born out of a common love for sustainability amongst our team as well as using our varied experiences.
1. Starting Point: Sustainable Cities & Communities
We observed that:
A majority of people like to thrift and flip / refurbish furniture
A rental/subscription model for furniture isn’t the preferred choice
The three main drivers for thrifting are:
a. The thrill of the find
b. The sustainability aspect
c. Lower and affordable pricing
Hence with ‘arth’ we want to redefine the curated landscape of furniture consumption and work towards making slow furniture the future of sustainability.
2: User Research: Understanding the need of the hour
Qualitative Interviews
Deep qualitative interviews were conducted which lasted about an hour each. We collected over 22 hours of data and conversations. These interviews were recorded and conducted both in-person and via virtual platforms - telephonic conversations and Zoom Meetings. The purpose of these interviews was to understand the behavioral patterns of the users with respect to their furniture. Here the users include both - the buyers who want to thrift the furniture as well as the sellers who would want to resell their pieces.
During these interviews we probed and listened to the users over various touchpoints. These included elaborating on the moving experience to a metropolitan like New York City, personal questions on finances and renting preferences, how the furniture buying experience has been in the city like, what worked and what did not work for them while sourcing furniture, how their thrifting experience has been, some questions on the online and offline buying experience, and conversations around maintenance and what they think about a new product offering in this space.
A complete list of questions are listed below.
Key observations for Rental / Subscription model
Buying is more economical than renting unless it is for a short duration
People follow word-of-mouth recommendations for furniture
Cost and durability are the most important factors when choosing
The mattress & desk/table are the first items to be bought
Assembly is tough but modularity is preferred
Willing to hire someone for logistics + assembly (needs to be economically feasible)
Logistics is the main pain point
Packaging waste is prevalent and evident
Key observations for Thrift Platform model
Thrifting has become trendy
More economical when trying to get different and unique furniture pieces
Thrifted furniture is considered more hygienic than furniture taken off the stoop
Moving of furniture is a major pain point
The sustainability aspect of thrifting is very appealing
People put furniture out on the curb because they don't know how else to get rid of it and like the idea of it being useful to someone else
Stooping is difficult because it has to be the right time and right place
Selling used furniture would be appealing to people if the logistics were taken care of
Thrifting online is discouraging because it's difficult to tell how it's going to be in real life vs how it looks in the pictures
Sensemaking
Shift towards a thrifting mindset
Thrifting becoming a lifestyle
A more environmentally conscious populace
Thrifting for more than just economical reasons
Pre-loved, not pre-owned
Logistical difficulties
Problem transporting furniture
Getting to furniture on the curb at the right time
Selling furniture too much of a hassle
Hygiene & Verification
Cleanliness of thrifted/stooped furniture
Verifying sellers and purchases
Poor Presentation & Curation
Bad seller-generated photography makes it harder for buyers to browse, gauge scale and finish or quality.
Lack of curation or classification by styles
3. Value Proposition & Business Models: Designing the venture
Post conducting a round of qualitative interviews and understanding users we started figuring out our value proposition. For this, we used the Value Proposition Canvas.
The Final Value Proposition:
A curated marketplace platform service that enables sellers to connect with buyers that mitigates the logistics and the hygiene friction, in the pre-loved furniture market, promoting circularity and sustainability.
On right: Deep analysis of our Value Proposition Canvas by our professor Jen Van Der Meer and direction setting for arth. Here the ‘key business differentiators are being discussed’
Backcasting
We used backcasting to determine the growth for ‘arth’ as a venture. By 2030 we would want ‘arth’ to be a digital platform and a marketplace for selling, buying and recycling of used products across categories. To achieve this, we would want ‘arth’ to be a digital platform and marketplace for furniture and home-related goods at scale (globally) by 2026, which backcasts to 2022 where we would want to launch ‘arth’ as a venture.
Before we pivoted to ‘arth’, our initial venture idea was to have a low cost design-led functional furniture for city residents. When we backcasted this venture idea, we projected that by 2030, arth will be a digital platform and marketplace for selling and buying used (or new) furniture. For this to happen, by 2026 more low cost - convertible furniture needs to be produced for small spaces. We realised quickly that the overheads in this case is much more which is directly impacting the bottom-line with lower impact on the circularity aspect.
User Journey
Basis our interviews and the venture model, we charted out the user journeys for both buyers and sellers. Here, for each of the pages, we also mapped the feelings of the user and the pain points. Corresponding the feelings to the pain points helped us gain deeper insights to the entire buying as well as the selling journey of the user. Using this we went ahead and developed our initial product wireframes.
Flourishing business model
A business model that really excites me is Flourishing Business Model Canvas. I have been trying to map various business models and this one fits in at the right time after the group work is achieved after studying any existing ESG reports, Unit Economics, Financial Modelling, Value Proposition Canvas, Backcasting and business model canvas.
4. Branding: Giving ‘Identity’ to ‘arth’
‘arth’ means ‘meaning’ in Hindi. The furniture we sell is pre-loved, has an emotional value, hence meaningful. We are selling meaningful furniture which encourages circularity and is therefore more sustainable. ‘arth’ is pronounced as ‘earth’.
Below is the brand identity as well as the brand colours for ‘arth’. These have been used in the prototypes as well as the pitch deck.
5. Prototyping
Initial Wireframes
Assimilating the above information, we set out to create the initial set of wireframes.
Final Prototypes
Taking inspiration from our initial wireframes, we developed the next set of prototypes. The below prototypes conveyed how a single app will have a marketplace interface - instead of developing two separate apps for buying and selling.
Once the buyer signs up, they can browse all pre-loved furniture. They can either browse this by category (Eg dining table, bed, etc), or they can browse this by style (Eg mid-century, modern, etc).
Once they click on the product, the buyer can see the selling price as well as the original price. The buyer can also check if the seller is verified and if the furniture piece is authenticated by team arth. The details of the furniture piece is provided along with the story. Do not forget to check out the story of a pre-loved chair in the mockup below.
6. Pitch Deck
The idea of the pitch deck is to share information, build a narrative, share a value proposition as well as differentiate the product. Below is the entire pitch deck which also covers the need for such a venture model along with the ask for the capital. Building a seamless pitch deck has been one of the most challenging part of the entire process. With over five iterative rounds of deck every week - the output has been designed to convey one single thought - value proposition & having a singular narrative arc. Scroll down for the final pitch deck for arth.
7. Key learnings
Having a collaborative team and working off each others’ skillset drives the project faster
No data is too less. With over 22 interviews we still felt the need for doing deeper ethnographic research. Having more time for the project would have definitely helped us garner some even deeper insights.
Pitch deck is a piece of art. It should convey a single value problem as well as value proposition to convey clarity of thought. The product MVP or the prototype should also highlight the same closing the narrative loop.
Unit economics and financial models are key to venture design. Both of these including valuation are under used tools for strategic designers. Extensive and regular use of financial models will help pivot or take timely strategic decisions for the business.
Designing a venture needs to be an iterative process.
Team arth on right: (From left to right) Madhura Redij, Noopur Ambre, Anwesha Sengupta, Dhairya Sathvara & Radhika Dilip Kale.