Abstracts Business

Smart shopping cart system : a new innovation for Grocery Industry

by Abdelaziz El Mahboul

The purpose of this thesis was to create a new shopping process concept for the groceries. with the aim to simplify the whole shopping process for customers by using a computerized shopping cart. The concept that was developed is called (Smart shopping cart) and it comprises main server and at least one computerized shopping cart ( tablet computer) ,with RFID reader designed for scanning the information from bar codes of the good loaded on the cart ,with the help to the communication link with the said server . The Smart Shopping System will require two components: a website that theuser can access to create a customized environment,including new shopping lists,and a self checkout component that will scan all items in the shopping cart and prevent the shopper from waiting in lines at the check out. Customers will be able to perform many tasks included in the main functionality of touch screen tablets. For instance search for products . self-scanning prices . daily deals , the result will be shown on the display . Smart shopping cart system was developed from the perspective of customer whose needs were not fully fulfilled once he takes part of the shopping system process. Frankly speaking ,we all know as customers we had once in our life time all face unpleasant situations in grocery, such as for example how hard to search for stuff to find out about the price of item? How difficult to find out about daily-deals ? did we find them easily or did we need to search the whole store for them? Was it comfortable or crowded? How about wait time in queue? how long time did you wait ,did it take until we check out ? was it pleasant or frustrating? Therefor we can conclude without doubts after long analyze of survey and customers feedbacks that the quality of customer service in grocery industry in general is totally poor and insufficient . This absence come automatically as a result that grocery industry is currently not driven by product innovations rather than profitability, but in fact the research shows that service innovation can be a key differentiator and driver for competitiveness in the future. Therefore by using this new innovative system all part of shopping process will be winners: Customers will reduce wait time .simplify the shopping process, knowing what and where to buy it, making their shopping process more pleasant and manageable. For groceries: They can increase sales (both in terms of immediate impulse buys and future customer loyalty) by producing happier customers. Additionally, it will increase their staff productivity (thus decreasing their costs) by effi-ciently matching staff members to customers. Furthermore, it gives them management data about their customers and their processes, which can lead to ongoing competitive advantages.