Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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grocerystore map app

grocerystore app that shows where items are located
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grocerystore app that shows where items are located in the store
Seneca, Apr 09 2013

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       The stores would never go for it. They arrange the stores to make you walk in a certain route in order that you pass promotional displays and impulse buy items.
Alterother, Apr 09 2013
  

       But it could be built independently of the store, and updated crowdwise.   

       Just make the app so that, once on each visit, it asks you to image the barcode of the nearest product at some randomly chosen time. Using GPS and a database of barcodes, it could then build a composite store layout and keep it updated from everyone's inputs.
MaxwellBuchanan, Apr 09 2013
  

       It sounds delightful, but it could only lead to lawsuit, like the whole 'taxi app' fracas that's going on right now. You might be surprised how far commercial entities will go to protect their ingenious methods of duping us into spend more money than we need to.
Alterother, Apr 09 2013
  

       I don't see why stores would oppose it. You'd still have to walk over and get the item. They already post signs with the categories of item in each aisle. You can always just ask an employee where anything is.   

       Such an app would probably increase sales, because people would be able to find more of what they want to buy. There's one local grocery store I try to avoid whenever possible because they have a bizarrely cryptic way of organizing stuff—often different brands of the same item are found in different parts of the store. Granola bars might be near breakfast foods, snacks, or health food—or in all three places. This isn't corporate policy, just the store's, because other stores in the same chain have figured out how to organize things sensibly. The result is that when I go to the confusing store, I often give up on about a quarter of the items on my list, and thus spend less money. If I had an app to tell me precisely where each item is, it wouldn't be a problem.
ytk, Apr 09 2013
  

       Store managers routinely re-organize the store specifically so you don't know where things are. It's done deliberately to increase "impulse buying."
whlanteigne, Apr 09 2013
  

       what it does for me is increase the impulse to buy somewhere else. If I don't know where stuff is anyways why not get some new scenery ?   

       [+]
FlyingToaster, Apr 09 2013
  

       Suddenly the store installs GPS jammers in aisles 1-12 and in produce.
swimswim, Apr 09 2013
  

       //Store managers routinely re-organize the store specifically so you don't know where things are. It's done deliberately to increase "impulse buying."//   

       Do you have any evidence of this—either that it happens, or that it has the intended effect? Most of the stores I frequent have had the same product layout for years, and very seldom move things around. Even the poorly organized grocery store has only changed its layout once in about a decade, when they remodeled the entire store. The layout is confusing, but it's consistently so.   

       The bread and butter, so to speak, of supermarket chains is repeat customers. Hence the “loyalty” programs they use both to track your purchases and market to you long term, and to increase your odds of returning to the same store by providing coupons, reward points, etc. Anyway, impulse buys tend to be the small items at the register, rather than scattered throughout the store. I can't see any logical reason why they would want to alienate their loyal customers by making each repeat shopping experience unfamiliar.
ytk, Apr 09 2013
  

       Or you could just have them deliver.
MaxwellBuchanan, Apr 09 2013
  

       //Do you have any evidence of this—either that it happens, or that it has the intended effect? //   

       I worked in a couple retail stores when I was in high school. We changed the entire store layout every season, and about every 2 years the store was completely reorganized and redecorated. Management said they didn't want customers to get bored with the layout, and re-organizing made it look "fresh," even when we were just moving the same stock around on the shelves.   

       Yes, some stores (like Cub Foods) will give you a map of their layout.
whlanteigne, Apr 10 2013
  

       I learned of this practice as the night manager of a 7-11 in '99-'00; yes, even small convenience stores rotate stock like this, and it does work. We spent more time on endcaps and promotional displays (such as the ever-popular 'beeramid'), but to the bored eye of the graveyard shift manager it was evident that moving stuff around caused even the most entrenched regulars to alter their purchase habits.
Alterother, Apr 10 2013
  
      
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