We have just released a new version of Giki – the mobile app to help you get informed about the products you buy and the companies you buy from.
The new release allows users to find alternative products that are more in line with their unique values, and returns more in-depth information on sustainability, health and fairness of individual products. It’s also generally smoother and snappier and includes Giki’s new branding.
The first MVP release of Giki was back in August 2017 and it has since been used for private testing with a group of around 20 people. In that time, Giki founders James and Joanna Hand have been talking to users and finding out what makes them tick, researching possible solutions and finessing their business plan.
To help users understand whether the products they buy are in line with their own values, Giki assigns products badges based on the following 10 categories:
- Local
- Organic
- Responsibly sourced
- Carbon footprint
- Recyclable packaging
- No chemicals of concern
- Free from E-numbers
- Healthier option
- Good animal welfare
- No animal testing
The first version of Giki simply returned all badges for every product. The latest version only returns badges relevant to that particular product, making it easier to scan and compare similar items.
From user feedback over the last few months, it became clear that users wanted to know why products were assigned certain badges and, if the products they liked weren’t in line with their own values, they wanted to easily be able to find alternatives.
Joanna and James had identified 3 levels of information users wanted around products:
- Basic badge information – e.g. this product is organic
- Product specific information – e.g. this product is certified organic by the Soil Association or EU Organic
- Extra information around values – e.g. in-app and external resources about what organic really means and how it’s certified.
We added this information into the app, giving users an overview of products first and allowing them to dig deeper and deeper to get more information as and when they wanted it.
The latest version of Giki searches the database to offer alternative products with an equal or better score across the same categories so you can find the best ones to fit with your unique values.
James and Joanna will carry on talking to users and tracking usage of the app with Firebase to understand more about how people use Giki and what they want to see more (or less!) of. We’re looking forward to hearing about what they find and working more on Giki next year.
Find out more and sign up for early access at iamgiki.co.
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