“I’m the family foodie. I love different Chinese meals, but I’m often seeking other flavors. There’s so much out there.”

Wendy was telling us about her weekend cooking adventures. Traditional market research would have put her in the “Chinese American segment.” But Wendy wasn’t shopping for Chinese food. She was shopping for more than that, she wanted discovery.

Six weeks into my role as head of brand and design at Weee!—North America’s largest Asian grocery platform—I was asked to lay off 20 of the 50 people who reported to me. Not fun. But an opportunity; while efficiency was paramount, we still wanted to understand our customers in a way that would fuel growth.

“We’re usually cooking Korean, and we frequently make other Asian dishes. But finding interesting dishes that we’ll all like… and then doing the shopping on top of that? That’s a lot of work.”

That’s Alison, a second-generation Korean American. Like Wendy, she defied traditional segmentation. She wasn’t just Korean. She was Korean and curious about everything else.

These customers didn’t want clear-cut cultural silos. They wanted to explore across Asian cuisines while feeling authentic to their own heritage.

The business challenge was cultural: how do you expand beyond first-generation immigrants without losing authenticity?

Our research led to a more discovery-oriented experience. Korean families discovering Japanese ingredients. Vietnamese households exploring Thai products. Chinese Americans experimenting with Filipino flavors.

The teams also redesigned everything from exploration pathing to delivery boxes to email sequences, our brand identity, and even the delivery vans; every touchpoint encouraged exploration. Wendy and Alison’s insights became part of our organizational DNA.

The company achieved 6% monthly growth throughout our crisis.