Validate or Pivot? Using Content Analysis to Assess Green Zebra’s Customer Value Proposition.

CEO Lisa Sedlar was two weeks from the start of meetings with venture capital funders to raise $10 million for a West Coast expansion of her urban, convenience-store startup – Green Zebra Grocery. Delivering a healthy take on the traditional c-store assortment, Sedlar was positioned to leverage growth trends that signaled a shift from the traditional fuel fill-ups that defined the c-store industry, toward urban food retailing. However, a massive oversupply of retail square footage dedicated to grocery, had made investors skittish about putting money behind another brick and mortar retail chain. On top of that, Amazon had just announced plans for a 3,000-store national rollout of Amazon-Go, their high-tech, self-serve concept store, described as the future of c-store retailing. To preempt investor concerns, Sedlar was considering using a content analysis of customer reviews to let shoppers speak for themselves. She needed evidence that either validated the Green Zebra ‘healthy convenience’ positioning or customer insights that would help her decide how to pivot her customer value proposition to create a differentiated positioning relative to key c-store competitors.