Waitrose app customers could soon be able to browse personalised recipe suggestions in-store and bypass the checkout altogether.
The retailer is exploring a recipe function for its Quick Check app that will suggest meal ideas based on the products in your basket.
The feature is still in a “very early experimental stage” and Waitrose is currently evaluating the feedback it received from the initial concept in one branch.
Waitrose is also considering adding a payment function to the Quick Check app so customers can bypass the checkout altogether.
Eventually, the retailer would like to introduce a shopping list feature that takes customers on the most efficient route around the store based on their choices.
The Quick Check mobile app first launched across all Waitrose stores last June primarily as a ‘scan as you shop’ solution. Customers can tot up the cost of their total basket by scanning barcodes on their smartphones as they go, but they still need to visit an express checkout to pay.
Waitrose was one of the first retailers to roll out an in-store shopping app across its estate. But competitors are now looking at more advanced programmes such as Sainsbury’s SmartShop, which is being trialled across 10 stores and has shopping list, navigation and payment functions.
Zebra Technologies, which is working with Waitrose on the Quick Check app, said this technology would become increasingly important to retailers.
“If someone’s shopping using a self-scanning device, you have the opportunity to influence that shopper journey,” said Mark Thomson, EMEA retail director for Zebra Technologies.
“It’s a marketer’s dream. They know where the shoppers are in store and what they’re buying, so they can start to make suggestions for other things in real time - for example, a specific type of wine to go with the cheese in your basket.”
Thomson added that in-store shopping apps typically added 12% to 20% to average basket spend.
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