I find the process of grocery bagging at supermarkets quite interesting. Essentially, once the items have been punched for payment, a guy at the counter packs up the stuff for you to carry along, using separate poly bags for packing vegetables, toiletries, non-veg food etc. Now based on what I have observed in the supermarket, people pick up all kinds of items and dump them into the cart/basket while roaming around in the different sections. The question that arises here is, if they were fine with putting them all together in the cart, why should there be a sudden need for them to be separated post-billing? Or, why waste so many poly bags?

But the more important question here probably is that whether the customers put the stuff together in the cart because they didn’t have an option or whether they didn’t feel the need for the same. Though all the items found in supermarkets are essentially packed, there are differences in the strength, cleanliness and weight of these packages (or of the items inside). Maybe this requires them to be arranged in a particular fashion. If this indeed is a valid scenario, it definitely requires a closer look at the design of the carts/baskets at the supermarkets. The customers should be able to make the arrangement and separate the items right at the time of picking them up, a task that the current cart/basket designs don’t seem to be catering much towards, atleast not in India. With varied eating habits and food-related concerns like separation of veg and non-veg food, special consideration to sacred or festive foods/items etc., this could be a interesting project from an Indian perspective. A better understanding of the mental model of the customers and their needs is obviously needed and that should define the direction for the redesign. 

Definitely seems like a scenario where user-centered design can make a difference. If not, we can atleast save on a lot of plastic.