What will be the future of grocery shopping?

Throughout history, grocery shopping has continued to evolve, developing services and means to better meet the different needs of companies and consumers. During the pandemic, many supermarkets started to do online sales and home delivery of products; this service continued afterwards, as it was much appreciated and requested by consumers.

Will this be the future of grocery shopping? Perhaps we will no longer be the ones going to the shelves, but the shelves will come to us. The new supermarkets will be the food delivery sites and the new shopping trolleys will be ‘the boxes’ that come to us at home. In this context, small local businesses and sustainable farms have a chance to compete with large supply chains and multinationals. Many small producers who do not have a point of sale have started to sell online, where it is easy to quickly reach many customers.

After delving into these issues, the project developed with the aim of providing a tool primarily to the producers of Val di Fiemme to make the most of this opportunity and promote local, sustainable and conscious grocery shopping. The thesis is realised in a crate, inspired by the fruit and vegetable one, with different uses, designed focusing on the specific needs of local farmers in its form and function. It is made up of three main elements: the crate, a canvas bag and hemp padding, designed using mainly recycled materials from some farms in the valley.