An Analysis of Tehran’s Bulk Food Retails for Developing Sustainable Design Guidelines

Abstract

Problems with disposable packaging can only be resolved by considering the products in the whole supply chain. Hence, this research was conducted to identify different aspects of bulk systems and devise guidelines for designing such systems. A literature review was carried out to identify the factors affecting bulk sales. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 bulk food retailers to discover the influencing factors in the context of Tehran. Afterwards, these Qualitative data were analyzed using one stage of open coding and three stages of pattern coding, producing 23 sections that influence bulk systems. The field research and literature review findings were analyzed based on their related sales process stage for extracting design guidelines. These guidelines were developed to provide designers with comprehensive insight to alter current sales systems. Extracted guidelines are mostly applicable through service design and service-product design and also clarify which sectors need the most attention from designers.