UK Supermarket Tesco experimenting with iPhone and iPad shopping experience
UK supermarket chain Tesco, have reported that they are experimenting on a new shopping experience, using your iPhone and iPad. They are already trialling a “scan-as-you-shop” system, in a store in Romford, Essex using specially developed handheld scanners. These are used to scan your shopping as you walk around the store, and you can just simply check out at the cashier. Nick Lansley, head of Tesco’s research and development, said that these scanners are likely to roll out nationwide in early 2011. Lansley also added, that his team are looking into implementing similar technology into iPhones and iPads.
The R&D department set about deploying the same technology to an iPhone. We wanted to prove that we could do it without any real change to our checkout systems.
There are several wireless access points in the ceilings of Tesco stores, which staff already use for communication with each other.
If you know where the access points are, and the application programming interface (API) also knows, it could download the Media Access Control (MAC) addresses of those access points which are the basic identifier for a location within a store.
He explains that using these wireless access points, they can determine where the customer is located in store, which can then be used to navigate them to specific products, or show the user relevant offers in the isle they are currently in.
The API could listen to the relative signals from the access points that it can sense, and from that, triangulate where you are.”
Unfortunately, he added that reflections from certain things within the store, like metals and shelving, may disrupt these signals, however his R&D would look into resolving this.
We don’t know if it’s going to work - that’s what the R&D process is for.
Are there any TiPb readers who think they would highly benefit if this was implemented in their local supermarket?
by George Lim
There are 9 comments. Add yours.
Tesco already have an iPhone home grocery shopping application, it is excellent and I use it every couple of weeks, makes ordering the boring stuff a much more pleasurable experience. Tesco should be applauded for their vision!
The Giant chain of stores in Northern Virginia have been doing this for a while, where you walk around with the scanner. I love it.
First of all Waitrose has been doing the scanner operation for a while, but only to customers that pay for the service I think, never used so cannot say. If what I can infer from what is said from the article is correct then I think it will be quite good to basically have a navigation system within stores, you can use the app for your shopping list before you go in store then use the navigation to A.) Organise your list in a way that you don't miss anything and B.) Help you find what your looking for quickly.
If it works out that way I think many customers would be happy with it, everyone needs to powershop sometimes and this will make it so much easier to do, which customers will pick up on appreciate and use the store more often
I like the scan as you shop service, Waitrose already do this. The idea that Tesco could use ceiling mounted wifi hotspots to establish a customer's position though sounds far-fetched to say the least. It would require that an iOS device were able to triangulate several wifi signals and this technology doesn't exist. Even if it did, do we really need turn-by-turn navigation in the supermarket? I would much rather they pit some R&D effort into giving customers free wifi rather than inventing bunkum for marketing purposes.
Sainsburys in the UK have been using these scanner for a couple of years. Excellent idea, pack and scan as you go and then just pay at the end.
As for the iPhone implementation of the service, who would actually use this?! Shocker of an idea!! Imagine wandering about tesco using and iPad to navigate. You'd look like a right Willy Wonka (plonker)!!
Eggy and Out.
Whilst interesting, this isn't really news. Tesco have had a mobile ordering site since around 2002. I used to use it on my ipaq.
And Sainsbury's and Waitrose between them have had walk and scan in their larger stores for nearly a decade. It falls down when you have done all he work and get a random security checkout and have to go through checkout as normal.
And by 2012 we will be controlled by a RFID chip in are hands....Money SSN And all about us will be in the chip total control on us!
To shop groceries at tesco.com from android phones, you can get an app from:http://www.gkishor.net/2011/02/android-app-to-shop-tesco-com-groceries
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