Circular Economy Exploration at Ikano Bank
Project Summary
During a UX internship at Ikano Bank's Innovation Lab, this project investigated opportunities within the circular economy for furniture, aligning with the bank's sustainability goals. As an Intern UX Designer/Researcher, I employed mixed-methods research (interviews, survey, market analysis) to uncover customer pain points around furniture disposal and needs for reuse. These insights informed a design sprint and resulted in a service concept prototype proposing ways Ikano Bank could support customers' sustainable practices.
Goal: To deliver user insights and a conceptual service prototype to the Innovation Lab, exploring how Ikano Bank could support circular consumption.
Please note: Due to confidentiality agreements, specific details about the final concept and business strategy implications are omitted. This case study focuses on the research process, key insights, and my contributions.
Role
Key Activities & Methods
Project Duration
Background & Strategic Context
This project was initiated within Ikano Bank's Innovation Lab to explore opportunities related to the circular economy, aligning with the bank's strategic interest in promoting sustainable living for its customers. The focus was on understanding how the bank could support customers in managing furniture lifecycles more sustainably, potentially integrating new services with existing financial products.
The primary goals were twofold: 1) Gather deep insights into customer attitudes, behaviors, and pain points regarding furniture reuse, recycling, and disposal. 2) Identify and conceptualize potential service offerings that Ikano Bank could develop to address these needs and support circular consumption patterns.
User Research & Methodology
We employed a mixed-methods approach, drawing loosely from the Design Thinking framework, to comprehensively explore the problem space and user needs.
1. Initial Research & Exploration (Empathize)
- Method: Initial Interviews (Reuse & Recycling)
- Why: To explore broad qualitative insights into sustainability attitudes based on initial hypotheses.
How: Refined interview questions, conducted 5 semi-structured interviews, transcribed, and performed thematic analysis. - Method: Secondary Research (Nudging & Social Norms)
- Why: To understand behavioral principles influencing pro-environmental actions.
How: Researched literature on behavioral economics (nudging, social norms) and synthesized findings. - Method: Recycling Experiment
- Why: A quick internal test inspired by research to observe potential influence of social norm prompts on waste sorting.
Hypothesis: Simple prompts could improve sorting.
How: Placed notes on bins, took photos over 5 days (Figures 1 & 2).
Limitations & Reflection: Uncontrolled environment, lack of observation/interviews made results inconclusive. A rigorous study needs baseline, controls, observation, and interviews.
Figure 1: Note on food waste bin at Ikano.
Figure 2: Note on mixed waste bins at Ikano.
2. Market & User Deep Dive (Empathize/Define)
- Method: Competitive Analysis (Furniture as a Service - FaaS)
- Why: To map the FaaS market, identify standards, gaps, and inspiration.
How: Analyzed 9 international providers using a comparison table focusing on business models, features, costs, terms (Figures 3 & 4). - Method: Customer Interviews (FaaS Scenarios)
- Why: To understand user experiences, needs, and emotions related to furniture during moves/updates, and views on FaaS/ownership.
How: Conducted 11 semi-structured interviews (3 iterations, ages 18-60). Analyzed transcriptions using affinity diagramming (Figure 5). - Method: Survey
- Why: To quantitatively validate qualitative insights on disposal habits and willingness to pay.
How: Assisted in creating and distributing a 10-question survey (55 participants). Results informed HMW questions (Figures 6-8).
Figure 3: Example of a competitor’s FaaS offering.
Figure 4: Snapshot of the FaaS competitor analysis table.
Figure 5: Affinity diagramming table for FaaS interview analysis.
Figure 6: Survey: 50.9% sold old furniture second-hand.
Figure 7: Survey: 63.6% want old furniture to be useful.
Figure 8: Survey: 96.4% could pay for disposal service.
Key Insights from Research
Synthesizing findings across all research methods revealed several critical insights:
- Pain Point of Disposal: A major hassle lacking a smooth system.
- Desire for Reuse: Strong preference for giving furniture a second life.
- Willingness to Pay for Convenience: High acceptance for paid disposal services.
- Subscription Concerns (FaaS): Wariness about non-ownership and damage fees; need for flexibility.
- Furniture Investment Triggers: Infrequent purchases, often linked to moving/renovations.
- Value Perception & Market Standards (FaaS): Expectation that costs won't exceed value; free delivery/assembly common.
- Information & Trust: Desire for transparency; influence of peers; preference for educational info.
- Style Priority: Personal style is key in furniture choices.
Concept Development & Prototyping (Ideate/Prototype)
The research insights directly informed "How Might We" questions and a design sprint, leading to a service concept integrating furniture financing with circular solutions.
Addressing Furniture Disposal: Insights on disposal hassle, reuse desire, and willingness-to-pay drove the design of an integrated pick-up service handling old furniture responsibly (resale/donation prioritized) – potentially as a paid add-on.
Mitigating FaaS/Subscription Concerns: Learnings led to emphasizing transparency and flexibility in any access-based models, considering clear damage policies, insurance, and simple buyout options.
Leveraging Market Standards: Competitive analysis showing common free delivery/assembly highlighted the need for a low-friction logistical experience in our concept, possibly via partnerships.
An interactive digital prototype was created in Adobe XD to visualize the user journey, focusing on integrating financing with circular furniture handling.
Deliverables & Usability Testing (Deliver/Test)
Primary outcomes included the service concept definition, the Adobe XD prototype, and six user flows for key scenarios. These were used for internal communication.
The prototype underwent four moderated usability testing sessions with customers to evaluate the value proposition clarity, navigation ease, identify usability issues, and gather qualitative feedback on concept appeal.
Conclusion & Learnings
This internship project successfully navigated the UX process within corporate innovation, moving from broad exploration of circular economy attitudes to identifying specific user needs and shaping a testable service concept for Ikano Bank.
Personal Learnings for Future Application:
- Applied diverse UX research methods (interviews, surveys, experiments, competitive analysis) in a real-world setting.
- Practiced synthesizing mixed data into actionable insights using affinity diagramming and thematic analysis.
- Enhanced cross-functional collaboration and stakeholder communication within an innovation lab context.
- Gained experience in prototyping (Adobe XD), user flow creation, and usability testing for service concepts.
- Learned adaptability and responsibility through practical project challenges.
Project Value & Future Potential for Ikano Bank: The exploration highlighted a tangible opportunity for Ikano to support customers' sustainable living goals while addressing frustrations. A circular service could enhance loyalty, strengthen the brand's sustainable image, create new value streams, and position Ikano proactively in the circular economy.
Overall, the experience demonstrated how user-centered design can identify and shape strategically relevant service innovations.