A wayfinding app that can guide users to specific products and store landmarks is being trialled at Asda Stevenage.
The supermarket has partnered with GoodMaps to map the store and make it available on the app.
The app can pinpoint a user’s location to within a metre and communicates directions to an object or area via audio, enlarged visual, and touch commands.
GoodMaps has worked with Asda to generate a digital replica of the Stevenage store, created using LIDAR (Light Detection And Ranging).
The GoodMaps app is aimed at blind and partially sighted people to help them navigate an indoor space, but Asda said anyone can use it.
“Although the app has an obvious benefit to disabled shoppers, the usability of the app is not limited to those whom are blind or partially sighted only,” an Asda spokesman said.
Shoppers are able to search for “landmarks” within the store such as the pharmacy, toilets and checkouts, but the app can also be used to search for products with “the aim being to guide the customer as close as possible to the item they are looking for” Asda said.
“We strive to be an inclusive business and that includes making it easier for all of our customers to carry out a shop in one of our stores. We hope that by working with GoodMaps we can understand how we can make the in-store experience better for our blind and partially sighted customers,” said Kane Stephenson, inclusion manager at Asda.
Earlier this week, The Grocer revealed M&S was to trial an augmented reality-based wayfinding app at its Food Hall in Westfield London, in White City. Fmcg brands are also working to improve product discovery for blind and partially sighted shoppers through the inclusion of colourful QR code-like imagery on their packaging, which, when scanned by an app called NaviLens, serves up product information and other content.
“Recognising not only the commercial value in providing an enhanced retail experience to shoppers, but, equally the ethical stance taken by Asda in this regard, has been both humbling and demonstrative of a corporate culture determined to make their offering not only inclusive but truly outstanding for all,” said Neil Barnfather, VP Europe at GoodMaps.
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