Challenge 

 I work in a company that operates in the sector of retail petroleum . In South Africa there are strict 

 regulations with regard to retail petroleum . These regulations present challenges which amongst 

 others include minimal differentiation of fuel products , fixing of fuel prices by government , 

 limitations to advertising of fuel products and the inability incentivise customers for fuel purchases . 

 It is therefore important to find different and innovative ways of creating a better customer value 

 proposition beyond the confinement of the petroleum retail regulations . 

 Selection 

 In attempting to address the challenge posed by the regulation in place , it became important to 

 engage various stakeholders in to what would create value for them when visiting the fuel station . 

 Through use of the design thinking process of identifying the " what is ? " , " what if ? "   " what wows ? " 

 and " what works ? " and using the tool of learning launches , a step to creating innovative solutions 

 with various stakeholders which included management , employees , customers and the surrounding 

 community was embarked upon . the learning launch as a tool was selected to as appropriate in the 

 task as it allows for the following 

    Identifying a gap , What are the key customer assumptions and how are well are they 

 executed ? 

    Allows for creation of a hypothesis 

    Promotes the collection of data to either confirm or disconfirm the hypothesis 

    Encourages thinking beyond the current offering of solutions and alternatives 

    Requires active participation from all stakeholders 

    Promotes testing and continuous learning 

 Application 

 The fuel company in question is set in the residential area of the town of Thaba Nchu , in the rural 

 province of the Free State , South Africa . For many years the town of Thaba Nchu was mainly 

 agricultural . Many stores in the town had limited product offerings confined to basic foodstuffs and 

 groceries . Even with modernisation , many of the town 's stores have remained unchanged resulting 

 in the residents in Thaba Nchu having to travel to the main towns of Bloemfontein and Ladybrand to 

 access stores with more variety .   Furthermore many of the inhabitants are faced with the reality of 

 travelling to neighbouring towns for employment and education . Many leave the town early and 

 come back late from work . This observation by many of the frontline employees prompted the 

 management to engage with customers on what are the pains in their daily lives that could possibly 

 be alleviated by management . By addressing these challenges , management could ensure creating a 

 better customer value proposition which would also result in more visits to the fuel station and 

 ultimately increased fuel sales . 

 Insight and Approach 

 In answering the question posed by management , many customers would respond by saying 

 " convenience " , as they had limited time at their disposal exacerbated by the fact that by the time 

 they got home in the evenings ,   most stores were already closed for business .   In response to this , 

 the fuel station then embarked on providing additional services such as selling of prepaid electricity , 

 call - time and data vouchers as well as the sale of lottery tickets on site . To some degree this created 

 some relief into the customer needs . 

 Many parents come home from work and are faced with the challenge of still having to prepare 

 wholesome meals for the children whilst still juggling other household requirements . Typical 

 mornings at the fuel station are characterised with families in a rush to get to work and school and 

 parents often having to purchase chips and sweets from the onsite store for work and school 

 lunches .   In the evenings parents filling up for the next morning 's travel will have fast food packages 

 in their vehicles for supper . As a parent myself , relating this situation to my own made me 

 empathetic to the parents . The hypothesis was created that modern day parents are still interested 

 in offering their families wholesome meals despite the time constraints they experience . 

 This observation prompted me , with the assistance of the fuelling attendants to collect data and 

 ascertain whether this was indeed true . With assistance of fuelling attendants while servicing the 

 vehicles , a few parents were asked whether they would appreciate pre - packaged wholesome foods 

 and snacks offered in the retail store on site as opposed to the sweets , cookies and chocolates 

 currently on offer . 

 Majority of the parents asked indicated that this would solve many of their challenges of balancing 

 schedules , family time and providing wholesome meals to their children . I then embarked on a 

 process of testing the hypothesis and started by offering very small amounts of foods in the store . By 

 the first day , all the food that was prepared was sold out at the end of the day . Upon purchase of 

 these pre packaged meals , I would engage with the purchaser and ask the following questions ? 

    What prompted the purchase ? 

    Is it likely to be a regular purchase ? 

    What else would they like to have that would complement the purchase ? 

    Who would they recommend the purchase to ? 

 Many of the responses articulated that the purchase was motivated by time constraints , and the 

 need to have food that had a " home - cooked " taste . Furthermore the purchases would likely become 

 regular if more family sized portions and variety were offered . Lastly the range of products would be 

 recommended to friends and family .   These interview responses were recorded in journals and more 

 questions were developed from these questions were derived from these questions as follows 

    Would you prefer the offering of full meals or single prepared foods 

    Would you consider buying desserts with your meals ? 

 Further responses indicated that the pre - prepared foods was preferred mostly by working parents 

 and would like to purchase family sized portions as they were more economical and practical . 

 Furthermore , very few families were interested in dessert options . 

 Key Successes 

 Following a test phase of the product , many customers have visited the convenience store even 

 when not visiting the site to purchase fuel .   Although fuel sales still remain the main revenue 

 contributor , sales in the convenience store as a result of innovation in the form the new line of food 

 products has almost doubled . This has necessitated that a much bigger floor space be demarcated 

 for fresh food . 


EMAIL: 
ID_NUM: 
NAME_STUDENT: 
PHONE_NUM: 
STREET_ADDRESS: 
URL_PERSONAL: 
USERNAME: 

### Task: You are a PII (Personal Identity Information) Detection. Given a essays written by students, you have to identify ONLY the following:
NAME_STUDENT - The full or partial name of a student that is not necessarily the author of the essay. This excludes instructors, authors, and other person names.
EMAIL - A student’s email address.
USERNAME - A student's username on any platform.
ID_NUM - A number or sequence of characters that could be used to identify a student, such as a student ID or a social security number.
PHONE_NUM - A phone number associated with a student.
URL_PERSONAL - A URL that might be used to identify a student.
STREET_ADDRESS - A full or partial street address that is associated with the student, such as their home address.
### Input: Challenge 

 I work in a company that operates in the sector of retail petroleum . In South Africa there are strict 

 regulations with regard to retail petroleum . These regulations present challenges which amongst 

 others include minimal differentiation of fuel products , fixing of fuel prices by government , 

 limitations to advertising of fuel products and the inability incentivise customers for fuel purchases . 

 It is therefore important to find different and innovative ways of creating a better customer value 

 proposition beyond the confinement of the petroleum retail regulations . 

 Selection 

 In attempting to address the challenge posed by the regulation in place , it became important to 

 engage various stakeholders in to what would create value for them when visiting the fuel station . 

 Through use of the design thinking process of identifying the " what is ? " , " what if ? "   " what wows ? " 

 and " what works ? " and using the tool of learning launches , a step to creating innovative solutions 

 with various stakeholders which included management , employees , customers and the surrounding 

 community was embarked upon . the learning launch as a tool was selected to as appropriate in the 

 task as it allows for the following 

    Identifying a gap , What are the key customer assumptions and how are well are they 

 executed ? 

    Allows for creation of a hypothesis 

    Promotes the collection of data to either confirm or disconfirm the hypothesis 

    Encourages thinking beyond the current offering of solutions and alternatives 

    Requires active participation from all stakeholders 

    Promotes testing and continuous learning 

 Application 

 The fuel company in question is set in the residential area of the town of Thaba Nchu , in the rural 

 province of the Free State , South Africa . For many years the town of Thaba Nchu was mainly 

 agricultural . Many stores in the town had limited product offerings confined to basic foodstuffs and 

 groceries . Even with modernisation , many of the town 's stores have remained unchanged resulting 

 in the residents in Thaba Nchu having to travel to the main towns of Bloemfontein and Ladybrand to 

 access stores with more variety .   Furthermore many of the inhabitants are faced with the reality of 

 travelling to neighbouring towns for employment and education . Many leave the town early and 

 come back late from work . This observation by many of the frontline employees prompted the 

 management to engage with customers on what are the pains in their daily lives that could possibly 

 be alleviated by management . By addressing these challenges , management could ensure creating a 

 better customer value proposition which would also result in more visits to the fuel station and 

 ultimately increased fuel sales . 

 Insight and Approach 

 In answering the question posed by management , many customers would respond by saying 

 " convenience " , as they had limited time at their disposal exacerbated by the fact that by the time 

 they got home in the evenings ,   most stores were already closed for business .   In response to this , 

 the fuel station then embarked on providing additional services such as selling of prepaid electricity , 

 call - time and data vouchers as well as the sale of lottery tickets on site . To some degree this created 

 some relief into the customer needs . 

 Many parents come home from work and are faced with the challenge of still having to prepare 

 wholesome meals for the children whilst still juggling other household requirements . Typical 

 mornings at the fuel station are characterised with families in a rush to get to work and school and 

 parents often having to purchase chips and sweets from the onsite store for work and school 

 lunches .   In the evenings parents filling up for the next morning 's travel will have fast food packages 

 in their vehicles for supper . As a parent myself , relating this situation to my own made me 

 empathetic to the parents . The hypothesis was created that modern day parents are still interested 

 in offering their families wholesome meals despite the time constraints they experience . 

 This observation prompted me , with the assistance of the fuelling attendants to collect data and 

 ascertain whether this was indeed true . With assistance of fuelling attendants while servicing the 

 vehicles , a few parents were asked whether they would appreciate pre - packaged wholesome foods 

 and snacks offered in the retail store on site as opposed to the sweets , cookies and chocolates 

 currently on offer . 

 Majority of the parents asked indicated that this would solve many of their challenges of balancing 

 schedules , family time and providing wholesome meals to their children . I then embarked on a 

 process of testing the hypothesis and started by offering very small amounts of foods in the store . By 

 the first day , all the food that was prepared was sold out at the end of the day . Upon purchase of 

 these pre packaged meals , I would engage with the purchaser and ask the following questions ? 

    What prompted the purchase ? 

    Is it likely to be a regular purchase ? 

    What else would they like to have that would complement the purchase ? 

    Who would they recommend the purchase to ? 

 Many of the responses articulated that the purchase was motivated by time constraints , and the 

 need to have food that had a " home - cooked " taste . Furthermore the purchases would likely become 

 regular if more family sized portions and variety were offered . Lastly the range of products would be 

 recommended to friends and family .   These interview responses were recorded in journals and more 

 questions were developed from these questions were derived from these questions as follows 

    Would you prefer the offering of full meals or single prepared foods 

    Would you consider buying desserts with your meals ? 

 Further responses indicated that the pre - prepared foods was preferred mostly by working parents 

 and would like to purchase family sized portions as they were more economical and practical . 

 Furthermore , very few families were interested in dessert options . 

 Key Successes 

 Following a test phase of the product , many customers have visited the convenience store even 

 when not visiting the site to purchase fuel .   Although fuel sales still remain the main revenue 

 contributor , sales in the convenience store as a result of innovation in the form the new line of food 

 products has almost doubled . This has necessitated that a much bigger floor space be demarcated 

 for fresh food .
### Output: 