Greenspot is an app which aims to show a list of local businesses inspired by a conscious, cruelty free and sustainable mindset. It started as a part of my final thesis for my higher studies in Web Development, and became a side project where I can get creative, develop my own Design System (Kiwi) and show my passion for a sustainable mindset when consuming food and fashion.
Main Goal
Helping users easily and quickly locate any vegan and vegetarian food, fashion or lifestyle business throughout Spain.
Features
In addition to automatically viewing businesses closest to their location, users can also search for restaurants in other cities.
Users can register on the app to share reviews and photos, save their favorite restaurants to a list, and edit their profile with information such as their name, photo, and reviews. Registration involves adding a nickname, email address, and password, or using the Facebook app to automatically populate their profile with their personal information.
A vegan saves between 370 and 582 animals from dying each year.
Source: Counting Animals
Stakeholders
The stakeholders of Greenspot are divided into three main categories: internal, direct, and indirect.
Internal stakeholders include the app’s core teams — management, tech, marketing, design, CSR, and sales departments. They are responsible for developing, promoting, and maintaining the app.
Direct stakeholders involve those who interact closely with the app, such as app users, vegan and vegetarian restaurants, flexitarian restaurants, vegan supermarkets, and zero-waste shops. These groups form the main ecosystem that connects supply and demand within the platform.
Indirect stakeholders are entities that influence or are influenced by Greenspot indirectly. These include green organizations, vegan fashion shops, mobile app stores, the government, investors, and the media. Their role is crucial for partnerships, visibility, and long-term sustainability.
This stakeholder structure ensures a balanced approach that considers operational needs, user engagement, and the broader environmental and social impact of Greenspot.
Benchmark
To better understand the market and identify opportunities for Greenspot, I conducted a benchmark analysis comparing six major platforms: Happy Cow, Tripadvisor, The Fork, Foursquare, Google Maps, and Yelp. The comparison focused on key features such as accessibility, user interaction, and business integration.
Most competitors offer both web and mobile apps, include business pictures and user reviews, and are available in multiple languages. However, there are notable gaps that Greenspot can address. For example, few platforms focus exclusively on vegan or sustainable businesses, and user interaction features are limited. Additionally, not all competitors support wishlist creation, business updates by users, or detailed categorization beyond restaurants.
This analysis highlights an opportunity for Greenspot to differentiate itself by offering a community-driven, sustainability-focused app where users can discover, interact with, and support vegan-friendly and eco-conscious businesses.
| Competitor | Happy Cow | Tripadvisor | The Fork | Foursquare | Google Maps | Yelp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Has it a web app? | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| Has it a mobile app? | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| Is it translated to spanish? | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| Is it translated to other languages? | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| Does it include other business categories besides restaurants? | X | X | X | X | ||
| Does it include business pictures? | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| Does it include user reviews? | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| Does it have a blog? | X | X | X | X | ||
| Can users update business results? (e.g. uploading a photo) | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| Can businesses get bookings from the app? | X | |||||
| Can users interact between each other? | X | |||||
| Can businesses be saved into a wishlist? | X | X | X | X | X | |
| Can business pages be shared outside the app? | X | X | X | X | X |
Conclussions
- The Fork and Google Maps have less user features.
- Ideally, we would bring together all the functionalities described above in Greenspot to differentiate ourselves from the competition and offer a complete product to the user.
Hypothesis
To prepare the questions to interview our potential users, I prepared a series of preliminary hypotheses that I needed to validate.
Consumption Habits
- There is a growing interest in vegan and sustainable fashion consumption.
- Most people with sustainable consumption habits don’t know where to go to buy vegan clothing.
- People with an omnivorous diet, despite eating animal products, also seek out vegetarian and vegan restaurants.
- At least half of the population aged 20 to 30 is aware that sustainable consumption habits help the planet.
- People think that vegan products are much more expensive than non-vegan products.
- People want to meet others who share their ideology (e.g., environmentalism, sustainability, veganism).
Demographics
- Women show more interest in topics related to the vegan and vegetarian world than men.
- A large part of the young population is interested in vegetarian and vegan food.
Internet Usage
- People are influenced in their purchasing decisions by the opinions they see on a website.
- Users do not usually leave reviews of other businesses online.
- People search online first when looking to visit a local business before resorting to other conventional means (word of mouth, press, etc.).
- Users like to share information about businesses they have visited, posting reviews, audiovisual material, etc. online.
Device Usage
- Users are accustomed to spending more time using their mobile phones than their computers.
Surveys
A 17-question survey covering demographic and lifestyle topics was completed by a total of 38 people, from whom the following information was obtained.
Pain points
One of the most important features of an application designed to showcase products and services is its reviews, so I wanted to investigate users and ask them the reasons why they don’t leave reviews of the consumer products they use online. I created a word cloud to visualize which words were repeated most often.
General Conclusions
- 100% of the omnivores interviewed are willing to try new recipes.
- 26.6% say they would not be willing to become vegetarian or vegan, and 40% are unsure if they could.
- Half of the omnivores say they have not been interested in researching vegetarianism or veganism.
- 73.3% believe that vegetarian and vegan products are much more expensive than animal products.
- 82.35% of respondents say they conduct an initial internet search to learn about a product or service.
- 58.82% of respondents say they do not leave reviews on the websites of the products or services they purchase.
- The most used apps by respondents to find local businesses are TripAdvisor and Google Maps. Happy Cow is the second most used app by vegetarians and vegans after Google Maps. - 67.64% of respondents say they are influenced by online reviews of products and services.
- The majority of respondents say they don’t usually leave online reviews because they forget or are simply too lazy.
Customer Journey
The customer journey follows Pablo Pérez, a conscious vegetarian who wants to find restaurants suitable for both vegetarians and omnivores.
In the first phase, Pablo feels frustrated because he cannot find a restaurant with varied options. He later discovers Greenspot through an ad on Instagram, becoming curious about what the app offers. After downloading it, he experiences relief and excitement upon finding several restaurants that match his needs.
However, when trying to make a reservation, he becomes frustrated again because the restaurant doesn’t answer the phone. Greenspot solves this pain point by allowing direct in-app bookings and offering personalized recommendations for similar places nearby.
Finally, Pablo visits a restaurant found through Greenspot and feels grateful and satisfied with the experience. The app follows up with a notification encouraging him to leave a review, reinforcing engagement and community participation.
This journey highlights Greenspot’s role in providing a smooth, user-centered experience — from discovery to satisfaction — while promoting sustainable and inclusive dining options.
MVP Features
After gathering all the aforementioned user data and considering competitor websites, it’s time to define the functionalities our application should offer to meet our users’ needs and position ourselves competitively in the market.
The functionalities defined for the MVP (minimum viable product) to be delivered are:
- Business display
- Business and city search
- City display
- Category display
- User login and profile access
- Posting business reviews
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