Sainsbury's offers electronic shopping list keyrings
Shopping lists may become a thing of the past in the UK with Sainsbury's introduction of keyring barcode scanners called 'Pocket Shoppers'. The keyring scans and stores product barcodes, ready to be used as an electronic shopping list.
Shoppers will use the gadget to scan barcodes on used products before throwing the packaging away. The stored shopping list can then be downloaded and printed out as a shopping list at the customer's local store. Or it can be used as an online shopping order by plugging the scanner into a PC - all of the products are then added to the customer's online shopping basket ready for next day delivery via the Sainsbury's to You home delivery service.
The Pocket Shopper uses infrared technology to recognise and store barcodes of major branded products and Sainsbury's own label items, and up to 150 products can be stored at any one time. The device is being trialled at Sainsbury's concept store in Hazel Grove, Manchester (see June 13th, 2002).
Forgetful customers cured If the Pocket Shopper proves successful, Sainsbury's believes that it could bring an end to customers cursing when they get home and remember what they forgot to buy. The company has found this to be a common irritant, with 90% of its customers regularly forgetting at least one item. Toilet paper is the most commonly forgotten item, followed by light bulbs, washing powder, batteries and refuse bags.
Sainsbury's senior manager for future stores, Diana Hunter, explained, "The idea came from a customer focus group which gave us hundreds of ideas for making shopping easier. This new gadget means customers should never leave anything off their shopping list again, and they will no longer need to carry around their shopping lists on pieces of paper which are easy to lose."
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