ROI Case File No.286 | 'Foodlink Trading Company's True Hiring Reason'

Chapter 1: The Unsold E-Commerce Site — Features Exist, But Not Hired

The week following the resolution of UrbanEstate's LEAN reform case, a consultation arrived from Kanto regarding a wholesale food distributor's e-commerce strategy. Episode 286 of Volume 23 "The Pursuit of Reproducibility - Sequel" tells the story of discerning the job customers truly want to "hire" and redefining the service.

"Detective, our e-commerce site isn't selling at all. We built it on Shopify, listed 3,000 products, payment and delivery work fine. But monthly sales can't reach $8,300. We don't understand what's wrong."

Foodlink Trading Company's e-commerce business director, Kenta Tamura from Saitama, visited 221B Baker Street unable to hide his confusion. In his hands were screenshots of an impressive e-commerce site and, in stark contrast, graphs showing stagnating sales.

"We're a Saitama-based wholesaler of commercial food ingredients to restaurants and food service facilities. Face-to-face sales were central, but we advanced e-commerce transformation during COVID-19. But customers won't use it."

Foodlink Trading Company's E-Commerce Stagnation: - Founded: 2005 (wholesale food distribution) - Annual revenue: $40 million (face-to-face sales) - E-commerce launch: 2021 - E-commerce investment: $100,000 (site construction and operation) - Listed products: 3,000 items - Monthly visitors: 1,800 - Monthly sales: $7,083 (17% of $41,667 target) - Conversion rate: 0.8% (industry average 3-5%) - Repeat rate: 12%

Deep anxiety showed on Tamura's face.

"The problem is we can't understand 'what's wrong.' We have products. Prices match competitors. Next-day delivery possible. Simple UI. But customers say it's 'hard to use.'"

E-Commerce Site Features: - Category search (vegetables, meat, fish, seasonings, etc.) - Keyword search - Sort by price/popularity - Cart function - Credit card and invoice payment - Delivery date/time specification

However: - Registered users: 850 - Monthly active users: Average 42 (only 5%) - Average purchase amount: $175 - Average items purchased: 8.5

Customer Voices (Survey Results): - "Hard to find desired products" (72%) - "In the end, ordering by phone is faster" (58%) - "Don't know what to buy" (45%) - "Can't find my usual products" (68%)

"We created an 'e-commerce site.' But we didn't understand 'why customers use e-commerce.'"

Chapter 2: Jobs-to-be-Done Theory Perspective — What Do Customers Want to Accomplish?

"Mr. Tamura, what policy guides your current e-commerce site renewal?"

To my question, Tamura answered.

"Basically, 'improving usability.' Enhance search functions, add recommendation features, refresh design. Consultants say 'improve UI/UX and it will sell.'"

Current Renewal Plan (Feature Improvement): - Advanced product search (AI recommendations) - Design refresh (modern UI) - Enhanced mobile support - Additional payment methods (e-money, etc.) - Budget: $67,000

I explained the importance of understanding customers' "hiring reasons."

"Adding features and being used are different. Jobs Theory—customers don't 'hire' products but 'hire them to accomplish jobs.' What job do customers want the e-commerce site to do? Understanding that is the starting point of everything."

⬜️ ChatGPT | Catalyst of Concepts

"Customers don't buy products. They hire products to complete their jobs."

🟧 Claude | Alchemist of Narratives

"E-commerce sites are merely tools. Only by understanding the job customers want to accomplish does the right tool become visible."

🟦 Gemini | Compass of Reason

"JTBD theory is perspective transformation. Ask not 'what to sell' but 'what to solve.'"

The three members began analysis. Gemini deployed a "Commercial Food Ingredients E-Commerce-Specific JTBD Analysis" framework on the whiteboard.

Jobs Theory (Jobs To Be Done) Three Elements: 1. Functional Job - What to accomplish practically 2. Emotional Job - How to feel 3. Social Job - How to be perceived by others

"Mr. Tamura, let's discover the reasons customers 'hire' the e-commerce site."

Chapter 3: Customer Truth — True Jobs Required from E-Commerce

Phase 1: Customer Interviews (2 weeks)

We conducted deep interviews with 30 people—both e-commerce non-users and users.

Interview Subjects: - E-commerce site non-users: 20 (restaurant owners, food service facility managers) - E-commerce site users: 10 (purchase 1+ times/month)

Question Evolution:

Previous Questions (Feature-Centered): "How is the e-commerce site's usability?" "What features would be convenient?"

New Questions (Job-Centered): "When procuring ingredients, what situations trouble you?" "What do you currently do to solve those troubles?" "Ideally, how would you want to solve them?"

Phase 2: Job Discovery

From interviews, the jobs customers want to "hire the e-commerce site for" became clear.

Job 1: "Fill Sudden Shortages" (Functional Job)

Situation: Restaurant owner (38-year-old woman) testimony: "Friday night, I realized chicken for Saturday's lunch service was short. I called my usual supplier but was told 'no Saturday delivery.' Desperate, I bought non-commercial chicken at a nearby supermarket. Costs doubled."

Job Customer Wants to Hire: "Fill sudden shortages rapidly"

Current Solution Methods: - Nearby supermarket (expensive, not commercial quality) - Call other suppliers (time-consuming, sometimes rejected) - Change menu (reduced customer satisfaction)

Job 2: "Shorten Procurement Work" (Functional Job)

Situation: Food service facility manager (52-year-old man) testimony: "Every Monday, I order a week's ingredients. Looking at meal plans, I list needed ingredients and convey them to suppliers by phone. Takes 90 minutes. Can't do other work during that time."

Job Customer Wants to Hire: "Complete procurement work in 10 minutes"

Current Solution Methods: - Phone verbal orders (time-consuming, mishearing risk) - FAX orders (handwritten, illegible) - Order same as last time (menu becomes monotonous)

Job 3: "Procure with Peace of Mind" (Emotional Job)

Situation: Restaurant manager (45-year-old man) testimony: "When buying ingredients from a new supplier for the first time, I'm anxious. Is quality okay? Will it arrive properly? Will they respond if there's trouble? In the end, I buy from my usual supplier even if slightly expensive."

Job Customer Wants to Hire: "Procure without failure, with peace of mind"

Current Solution Methods: - Buy from usual supplier (narrow choices) - Research word-of-mouth (time-consuming) - Trial purchase in small quantities (hassle)

Phase 3: Evaluating Existing E-Commerce Site

We evaluated how the current e-commerce site responds to discovered jobs.

Response to Job 1 "Fill Sudden Shortages": - Current status: Next-day delivery possible, but "urgency" doesn't communicate - Problem: Not designed for "hurried" customers - Evaluation: × (Not solving the job)

Response to Job 2 "Shorten Procurement Work": - Current status: Must search among 3,000 items - Problem: Can't find "usual products" - Evaluation: × (Actually slower than phone)

Response to Job 3 "Procure with Peace of Mind": - Current status: Only product photos and brief descriptions - Problem: Quality, origin, other stores' evaluations invisible - Evaluation: × (Anxiety not resolved)

Tamura was stunned.

"We created an e-commerce site but weren't solving any customer job."

Chapter 4: Job-Solution E-Commerce Redesign — Creating Reasons to Be Hired

Phase 4: Job-Solution E-Commerce Design (1 month)

We fundamentally redesigned the e-commerce site to solve the three jobs.

Redesign 1: Solving "Fill Sudden Shortages" Job

New Feature: "Emergency Procurement Mode" - Large "Need Today/Tomorrow?" button on top page - Display only immediately available products (real-time inventory linkage) - Detailed delivery time slot specification (same day 6 PM, next morning 8 AM, etc.) - Clearly mark "emergency" orders receive priority response

UI Design:

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🚨 Need Today or Tomorrow?
[Enter Emergency Procurement Mode]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Redesign 2: Solving "Shorten Procurement Work" Job

New Feature: "Standard Sets" and "Repeat Orders" - "Order Same as Last Time" button (one-click reorder) - "Standard Set" creation function (save frequently bought combinations) - Menu templates ("Japanese Set," "Western Set," etc.)

UI Design:

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
⏱️ Order Complete in 10 Seconds
[Order Same as Last Time] ← One click
[Last Week's Standard Set] ← Pre-saved
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Redesign 3: Solving "Procure with Peace of Mind" Job

New Feature: "Trust Visualization" - Display "number of stores using" per product (e.g., "230 stores currently using") - Reviews from actual store owners (with photos) - Detailed origin and quality information display - "First-Time Trial Set" (small quantity, low price)

UI Design:

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🏪 230 stores use this product
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4.8 (128 reviews)

"Quality is stable and helpful"
- "Menya Takeshi" Ramen Shop Owner

[View Origin Info] [Order Trial Set]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Phase 5: Renewal Implementation and Verification (3 months)

We launched the job-solution e-commerce site.

Results After 3 Months:

Surge in User Numbers: - Monthly active users: 42 → 285 (6.8x) - New registrations: 15/month → 78/month

Dramatic Conversion Rate Improvement: - Site visit to purchase: 0.8% → 4.2% (5.3x) - "Emergency Procurement Mode" conversion rate: 12.5%

Sales Leap: - Monthly sales: $7,083 → $48,333 (6.8x) - Average purchase amount: $175 → $400 (increased bulk buying) - Repeat rate: 12% → 68%

Job Solution Status:

Job 1 "Fill Sudden Shortages": - Emergency procurement mode usage rate: 38% of all orders - Customer feedback: "Responded to Saturday's sudden shortage"

Job 2 "Shorten Procurement Work": - Repeat order function usage rate: 72% - Average order time: Phone order 90 min → E-commerce 8 min

Job 3 "Procure with Peace of Mind": - Customers via first-time trial set: 42/month - Trial to full purchase rate: 85%

Phase 6: Further Job Discovery (6 months later)

From usage data, new jobs became visible.

New Job: "Lower Procurement Costs"

Customer Feedback: "I used to buy from multiple suppliers. But if Foodlink has everything, delivery fees are only for one company. Costs decreased, and ordering hassle reduced."

New Feature: "Bulk Purchase Suggestions" - Display "¥○○ more for free shipping" - "People who bought this also bought these" - Automatically suggest related products

Comprehensive Results After 12 Months:

E-Commerce Site Transformation: - Monthly sales: $7,083 → $106,667 (15x) - Annual sales: $85,000 → $1.28 million - Ripple effect on face-to-face sales: E-commerce users' face-to-face purchases also +35%

Business Contribution: - Company-wide revenue: $40M → $44.2M (+10%) - Increased customer touchpoints: Relationship strengthening via e-commerce - New customer acquisition: 180 companies/year via e-commerce

Customer Testimonials:

Restaurant Owner (38-year-old woman): "Previously, Friday night shortages troubled me. Now Foodlink's emergency procurement mode delivers by next morning. I can operate with peace of mind."

Food Service Facility Manager (52-year-old man): "Procurement work went from 90 minutes to 8 minutes. That time now goes to menu creativity, receiving positive feedback from users."

Chapter 5: The Detective's JTBD Diagnosis — Designing Reasons to Be Hired

Holmes compiled the comprehensive analysis.

"Mr. Tamura, Jobs Theory's essence is 'perspective transformation.' We don't sell products. We solve customers' jobs. Understanding what customers want to accomplish—that understanding is the source of all value."

Final Report 24 Months Later:

Foodlink Trading Company became a leading player in the Kanto commercial food ingredients e-commerce market.

Final Results: - Monthly e-commerce sales: $106,667 → $237,500 - E-commerce client companies: 285 → 720 - Company-wide revenue: $44.2M → $56.7M - Industry evaluation: "Most-used commercial food ingredients e-commerce"

Tamura's letter expressed deep gratitude:

"Through Jobs Theory, we transformed from 'a company selling features' to 'a company solving jobs.' Most important was changing the question from 'what is an e-commerce site' to 'what do customers want to accomplish?' Now before adding new features, we always ask 'what job does this solve?' We understand that customers don't buy products—they hire products to complete their jobs."

The Detective's Perspective — Hiring Reasons Are Value

That night, I reflected on the relationship between products and customers.

Jobs Theory's true value lies in humility. Companies create products. But customers don't want products. Customers want to accomplish their jobs.

People buying drills don't want drills. They want holes. No, precisely—they want to "hang pictures on walls," the job accomplished.

"Customers hire products. But hiring reasons aren't the products themselves. Hiring reasons are the jobs to accomplish."

The next case will also depict a moment when Jobs Theory carves out a company's future.

"Customers don't buy products. They hire products to complete their jobs."—From the detective's notes

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