ProjectProposal-KeenahnJung
From CS160 User Interfaces Fa06
The Anoto Shopping Aid
Introduction Grocery shopping and shopping in general is a time consuming chore, yet we must engage in it to function in this society. Already, much of business has shifted to online sales for the savings in time, money, and effort. I propose an in-store solution using the Anoto pen that offers the quality of in-store shopping combined with the speed and convenience of online shopping.
Problem description and Context
Online grocery shopping has not broken into mainstream adoption for several reasons.
- The system is geared towards large purchases, offering discounted or free shipping for larger orders. The system makes no sense when people need to just pick something up quickly after work, or if they need a few items in a hurry. My system can speed up purchases in this case as well.
- People like to see what they're buying, especially with meat and produce
- People with health and diet concerns need to be able to read labels, which is not possible online
- Shipping has to be scheduled for a specific time window, so there is no instant gratification
- People like to check expiration dates on perishable goods
Even if online grocers solved all these problems, there would still be a psychological effect. People have been going to markets for millennia, and for many, this will be the only way to shop. People need to be able to touch, see, and smell the products they are buying. Even if online grocers consistently provided the freshest meat, vegetables, and milk available, they would be depriving customers of the feeling of choice. Furthermore, not everyone has a computer or internet connection, etc.
Thus, I propose a solution integrating Anoto pens and live grocery stores that will still allow people to touch and choose products, but will speed things up for those who wish to save time.
Target user group
This product would be useful to all shoppers, but would be targeted towards the high powered, business types, who are very busy, but who still demand the quality of in-store shopping. However, I believe that everyone would be able to get value from this system. The beauty of this system is that one does not need to be computer savvy to use it. As long as they have seen a paper and pen, they are good to go. Furthermore, this system will be integrated with normal in-store shopping (at least initially, until the system becomes more popular) so people can determine their own level of involvement. Store owners would also benefit in that they would have a competitive advantage over normal grocers. They would also be able to save money and people. I will outline all these benefits below in my solution proposal.
Solution As each patron enters the grocery store, he takes an Anoto digital pen. Optionally, he takes a sheet of paper with (possibly a subset of) every product the store offers listed on it. On this sheet of paper, patrons can quickly check off items they want and write the quantity in provided boxes. When the patron is done with this phase of the shopping, he can check the "send" box and workers in the back of the store start assembling this load, as they get the order presented to them on monitors/receipts. The load will be tracked by pen id. The ink is inconsequential and is provided for the benefit of the customer. The paper is important in that we use it to locate where the patron is writing.
Once this optional phase is complete, the patron can wander the store as usual, noticing that there is significantly less shelf and aisle space (say, 50% of normal). This allows customers to cover ground twice as fast, and it is still efficient from a restocking perspective since more groceries will be taken from back rooms instead of off the shelves.
On each shelf, below each type of item, there is a piece of paper under the price tag. Patrons can write in the quantity they want of this item and workers in the back rooms will add it to the load. Again, the ink is inconsequential and are provided as a convenience to the customer. The paper id is important for tracking the item. If optical character recognition for numbers is really bad, we can switch this to a multiple choice form, where patrons check off a box next to the quantity of the item they want, but this shouldn't provide a problem.
Optionally, patrons can just grab the item they want and place it in their basket/cart and proceed as normal. This will be especially important for perishable items, such as milk, yogurt, fresh fruit and vegetables, and meat. Even more importantly, this will provide customers with the empowering feeling of choice. As mentioned before, even if online grocers could consistently provide the freshest perishables, it is psychologically unsatisfying not knowing what you are buying before you actually receive it.
At the checkout, the cashier takes the patron's pen and puts it in a docking station. The pen id is read and a message is sent to the back room that this load is ready to be delivered. The cashier scans any other items in the patron's cart as normal. The patron pays, and the combined load is ready to be taken away by the patron.
My solution offers advantages in speed and efficiency over that of traditional shopping. If patron's chose to do so, they could check off everything they needed from the card they receive at the door and be done. But, because it is an integrated solution, it still allows patrons to see and touch the products they are buying. It is appealing to store owners because they will have a competitive advantage over other traditional markets, as well as saving time, space, and man-hours restocking shelves.
Sketch
The shopping sheet will have a certain subset of the items offered by the store. It will probably not have every item the store offers, since the inventory is constantly changing, and this will be too cumbersome to maintain.
Each item's price tag will have additional space below for patrons to write in how many they want. Ideally, they would be using the pens with audio feedback and would get a affirmative beep if the stroke was recognized or a negative beep if it was not.
