A Platform to Connect Swiss Consumers of Fair Trade Products with Producers in Developing Countries: Needs and Motivations

Abstract

The concept of user experience departs from the concepts of usability and usefulness by paying more attention to emotional-affective aspects of use. It also addresses human needs and motivations in a way that goes well beyond the focus on efficient and effective task performance that is central to the concepts of usability and usefulness. In this contribution we report on the basic user needs and motivations we identified for the use of a platform that aimed at establishing a stronger connection between Swiss consumers of fair trade products and producers in developing countries. This resulted in a web-based “access to market-platform” that is based on “crowd ordering” and enables the producers to market bio-farmed products directly to consumers in Europe. Several needs and motivations that have been proposed in the framework of human needs categorizations were shown to be relevant for our case, such as “money”/income and competence development on the part of the producers, “relatedness” or community-building on the part of the consumers and their need for “stimulation”, i.e. to learn more about the products, production and producers. The need to “do good for others” that is central to fair trade is discussed to take the paradigm shift from a task- towards a “self”-oriented approach in UX one step further by integrating an “other”-orientation in UX design. Furthermore, the distinction between pragmatic and hedonic components of UX is discussed in the light of the basic need of improving living conditions on the part of the producers and community-building aspects on the part of the consumers.