Idea for a mobile app. Strategic shopping.
Whilst wandering around an unfamiliar supermarket at the weekend (looking for Cous Cous) an idea for a mobile app suddenly hit me.
How about a store-based product finder?
It would work like this:
- Fire it up;
- the app knows what supermarket I’m in via GPS;
- I start to type in a product name, the predictive search autocompletes my request; and
- the app tells me which aisle the product is in.
You could extend it to provide brand offers and alternatives. But at its heart it’s about getting round that frustration of trying to find a product in an unfamiliar supermarket when there are no staff members in sight.
It could be white label that works in all supermarkets. It could be crowdsourced to help keep it up to date. Why not input your shopping list online and it gives you your list in the right order providing an efficient route around the supermarket?
For those of us that like to execute our shopping trips like strategic shock-and-awe strikes it would be ideal.
12 comments
There’s an app for that – the Tesco App. Obviously it only works in Tesco.
Thanks Richard.
I wasn’t in a Tesco but will give the app a whirl next time I am.
I was going to mention the Tesco app, but got beaten too it.
http://www.brandrepublic.com/News/945562/Tesco-launches-store-product-finder-iPhone-app/
http://www.brandrepublic.com/News/945562/Tesco-launches-store-product-finder-iPhone-app/
Nice idea though Simon, just need to create one to amalgamate all stores.
Only a guy would need this. You could always just phone your wife; she’ll know ;)
Interesting idea, but I don’t think you would be able to index the entire inventory of a supermarket and keep it up to date, even by crowd-sourcing!
Thanks for your comment 3stripe.
As Richard points out, Tesco have done this – with some success judging by the app store comments. Their database is huge apparently. As they say themselves…
The database is several gigabytes in size – way too big to download – so Tesco Finder requires a continuously available internet connection through Wifi or cellular data link so it can get its information from our servers as you use it when building a shopping list. However a great new feature of v2.00 allows you to choose a store – and your products will be grouped by their aisle location in that store so you can quickly ‘satnav’ your way around the store without a network connection.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tesco-finder/id330818669?mt=8#
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tesco-finder/id330818669?mt=8#
A app called “Appie voor iPhone” – made for/by the Dutch supermarket Albert Heijn – actually has a feature that let’s you sort your list in the order of the isles the store you are in.
Now you’re talking. I’d use this in a hearbeat. I love the future of mobile apps — in fact, I posted two days ago on whatstheidea.com about a forward looking app that will let you point your iPhone at someone’s clothing (on the street) and read the brand name and store. It’s da futures.
Really convenient app idea and I’ll try out the Tesco one, hoping to make my shopping somewhat more efficient.
However, as part of the supermarkets’ traditional space management strategy they actually want to have you moving around as many aisles as possible. It increases the chances of items dropping into your basket. Haven’t you also noticed how the large supermarkets sometimes move things around and you have to find them again, now in a different place? This way the supermarket helps the customers see more of the shop and explore new aisles…
As a busy customer though, I’m all for that product sniffer app!
This is definitely more of a guy’s app…I like that you neatly circumvented the real truth by saying ‘when there are no staff in sight’. Pretty much every bloke I know hates asking for directions and one thing he hates more than that is supermarket shopping. So to combine the two is some kind of hell.
I reckon it should be called ‘Take me to the eggs’ because every supermarket I’ve ever shopped in puts them in a different, completely illogical place.
You know what Simon? I had pretty much the same idea a while ago… and I’m currently developing it…
It will be unbranded and crowdsourced… but a with a different twist that will make it interesting not only for “lost guys” but also for “smart girls” :)
Unfortunately I’m stuck trying to find a working OCR system for the iPhone… and that’s the “plus” feature that my app must have :D
Mobile retail apps are going to be big, no doubt, and I think that the idea of an enhanced shopping experience makes a lot of sense. GPS won’t work inside a supermarket though, there’s not much chance of a satellite fix indoors. If you want to get whizzy, augmented reality would work, and/or a barcode scanner – point your camera at an item and get recipe ideas, health facts and offers pushed to your phone…….