h a l f b a k e r yThe phrase 'crumpled heap' comes to mind.
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This is an app that you open, type "ginger beer" into, and it tells
you
what aisle/level/shelf the product is on, in whatever grocery store
you are in.
You can type other stuff, besides "ginger beer" in case you didn't
get that. "Ginger beer" was supposed to be like "x" in an equation.
Adding
a social element in here since a store wouldn't be likely to
implement something that would make it easy to locate and buy
just one item and then get the hell out.
In library school I used to call this the CVS principle, (a local drug
store), because everything seemed to be organized randomly so
that you had to browse around the store until you found what you
were looking for and on the way there discover that you needed
$50 of other stuff. I went in the first time looking for a
toothbrush and walked out with bags and bags of stuff I didn't plan
on getting.
Halfbakery: Google Supermarket Search (2008)
Google_20Supermarket_20Search
[jutta, Jul 16 2013]
[link]
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Q: XX beer?
A: Near the ginger beer. |
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Come to think of it, this would never work as an app run by
any individual store, or even a bunch of stores because
they want you to learn their exclusive and convoluted
organization scheme so that you will have a hard time
shopping other places once you have figured theirs out ---
so this should be a social network where users contribute
locations for points and maybe get ad-supported discounts
in return. |
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Theologically speaking, I wouldn't have thought you need a toothbrush, given the parentage... |
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Saddly, it has been all down hill since then. |
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Once in a while though, I do get stoned immaculate. |
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Yeah, well, we've all got our cross to bear. Speaking
of which, nice performance art. |
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I dunno - I found it a little turgid; the begatting
scenes could have been made more of. |
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Why have you forsaken my idea? |
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// everything seemed to be organized randomly so that you had to browse around the store until you found what you were looking for and on the way there discover that you needed $50 of other stuff.// This pretty much hits on why “store search” automation hasn’t, and I expect won’t, be coming to a store near you, or if it does, won’t stay long. |
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Before smartphones, ca. 1990, the US mid-Atlantic Giant supermarket chain had nifty little touchscreen (actually, they used a grid of IR lasers and detectors just above the screen, but to the same effect) kiosks that would accept your touches (just pick the 1st letter, then pick from a list, much like the “look up an item” on most present day self-checkouts) then draw a nice little “you are here – it is there – follow this path” to you item. They quietly retired them after a few years, because, as Jesus says, stores don’t want shoppers quickly getting what they want and getting out – they want them wandering lost (pissed off is optional), buying stuff they didn’t think they wanted. |
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For at least 5 years, there’s been some pretty neat “smart shopping carts” on the sell-to-retailers market that can do this even better, and without the need to install an app on anybody’s personal smartphone, some combined with “smart shelves” that label themselves and send their data to the bigger screen on the smartcart, but none have really caught on, despite their ability to reduce stocking and labeling labor, and advertise/recommend like an meth-addled teenage car salesperson on a roll. |
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A latest product along these lines, the Microsoft/Chaotic Moon SmarterCart, has a Microsoft Kinect to see and hear (voice interface) and motorized wheels to role to wheel itself around the store to everything on a list. 2012 webnews says these are to be in test/demo in some WholeFoods stores soon – I predict they be gone as quickly as they came. |
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An OK idea, but needs to take second place behind a campaign to introduce immediate summary execution (with extreme prejudice) for any manager who rearranges the layout of the store even though it's been just fine for years and regular customers know exactly where everyting is. |
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I volunteer for immediate summary excecution. (Throws all the
money on the floor) |
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So if I understand correctly, this equation works
without planning: Let the Ginger beer be X, This is
an app, and That is U. If U is in the grocery, in order
to reach level X, open the store, locate just one
item, shelf a product, and stuff whatever in the
library. This equation makes it easy to tell U. But why
walk out? |
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