Reviving Traditional Fish Markets: A Digital Transformation

Enjoy Happy Food: Bridging Tradition and Modernity with Innovative Service Design

Surrounded by sea, Taiwan is home to a rich variety of edible sea fish. However, knowledge about these species is often confined to fish vendors, leaving many Taiwanese people unaware of the diversity on their doorstep. As concerns about food traceability and safety grow, there is a need to bridge the gap between traditional fish vendors' expertise and the modern Taiwanese lifestyle, which values fresh and healthy food. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated this issue, as traditional fish markets have been severely affected. This raises the question: can this crisis be turned into an opportunity for digital transformation?

In response to these challenges, Ting-Han Chen has transformed a traditional fish vendor into a modern social e-commerce brand, "Enjoy Happy Food". The brand is rooted in the vendor's 40-year traditional fisheries professionalism and the traditional market's high customer engagement. It takes customization orders from customers via LINE, a social app used by over 95% of Taiwan's population, and delivers daily caught fresh sea fish with recommended cooking recipes.

The unique properties of this design lie in its seamless integration of tradition and modernity. The brand owner personally visits the fishing port before dawn to handpick the freshest fish. These are then processed according to customers' needs and delivered to their homes at designated times, ensuring the freshest possible product. The owner maintains high customer engagement on LINE by sharing fishery news, fish knowledge, cooking recipes, and environmental protection issues.

The project, which started in January 2021 in Tamshui township, New Taipei City, continues to revise service designs based on customer feedback. The design process involved field experiences, interviews, requirement analysis, co-ideation workshops, and experience journey mapping. The technical specifications of the design include service workflow redesign; brand visual identity elements such as logo, business card, apron, van, posters, brochure, web app, gift box, etc.; and various packaging designs.

One of the main challenges was changing people's behaviors, which takes time. Therefore, the design was kept as simple as possible. New tools, such as a sticker system for instant packaging, were introduced based on the revision of the service workflow for relevant stakeholders within the vendor's supply chain. The project also leveraged the social app LINE, which had already created a social shopping culture in Taiwanese everyday living, to turn traditional fish vendor's customers into online shoppers and attract new online customers who didn't shop at the traditional fish market.

In recognition of its innovative approach, "Enjoy Happy Food" was awarded Silver in the A' Meta, Strategic and Service Design Award in 2022. This prestigious award is given to top-of-the-line, creative, and professionally remarkable designs that illustrate outstanding expertise and innovation. The project demonstrates how traditional fish vendors can transform into modern social e-commerce brands in response to the pandemic, bridging the gap between traditional fish market shopping and online shopping lifestyle.