Mobile Shopping Assistant

The Mobile Shopping Assistant (MSA)  supports customers during their visit to the real,- Future Store. It can be used to prepare shopping lists at home or on the road, scan products at the store and accelerate the checkout process. It is an application designed for powerful mobile phones with an autofocus camera and is currently being  tested at the real,- Future Store.

With the Mobile Shopping Assistant (MSA), customers of the real,- Future Store can use an entirely new mobile phone application that makes shopping a more convenient and exciting experience. The MSA is a software program that offers features such as the automatic scanning of articles, up-to-date price information and a quick overview of the total price of the purchases. In addition, it simplifies the search for products at the store and accelerates the checkout process. The MSA can be downloaded as an app to the Apple iPhone.

Before the customers start their shopping tour through the real,- Future Store, they log on to the Mobile Shopping Assistant with a user name and a password. Through the telephone network they establish a connection to the server and, hence, to the merchandise management system so that the MSA can display the latest price information. Customers can then scan the barcodes on their shopping trolley with the integrated camera.

During their shopping tour through the real,- Future Store, the customers scan the barcodes of the items they put in their shopping trolley or basket. The MSA displays the corresponding prices and the total value of the purchases. This enables the customers to permanently keep track of their expenses. With the “Search” function, product groups can be found quickly and orientation in the store is much easier. At the checkout, the customers go directly to the paystation . On pressing a button, a barcode is shown on the display of the MSA - the customers then scan this barcode to finally pay the total amount either in cash or by credit card. In the future, another option will be to pay directly using a mobile phone. Through an integrated radio interface, small amounts can be paid reliably and quickly. Holders of a PAYBACK card are automatically credited the bonus points of their purchase.

The MSA supports consumers in preparing their shopping lists at home or on the road. Products can be added directly onto the Mobile Shopping Assistant, either using the keyboard or the integrated camera. This way, the consumer can, for example, scan the barcode of an empty milk carton before discarding it. Shopping lists can also be prepared on a PC and transmitted via a secure link to the MSA.