Developing a Smartphone Self-Checkout App for Superior Shopping Experience

Project Scenario and Background

Project Scenario and Background

You are in charge of the group that comprises the Information Technology & Services Department that supports a chain of large food and general merchandise stores.  There are more than 25 stores scattered throughout Maryland; they vary in size from about 115,000 square feet to over 220,000 square feet for the newer stores.  The Founder (who is also the CEO) is actively involved in ensuring that all stores live up to the mandate of providing superior selection, service, quality, and innovation.  All stores in the chain are classified as “supercenters”; open 24/7 with a large selection of items.  Departments include:

1.Automotive

2.Clothing & Shoes

3.Computers/Electronics 

4.Cosmetics

5.Furniture

6.Garden Center

7.Groceries

8.Housewares

9.Home Accessories

10.Jewelry

11.Music/movies/

12.books/magazines

13.Pets & Accessories 

14.Plumbing

15.School & Office

16.Sports & Leisure

17.Toys and Games

The Founder and CEO is a technology geek and is always interested in ways to provide shoppers with a better experience.  Recently, she attended a technology conference that had prototypes and demonstrations of new technological innovations.  The morning after her return she called your group into her office and was obviously very excited.  

She wants you to develop a smartphone application that will allow shoppers to basically do self-checkout as they put items into their cart while shopping.  The concept is that a shopper would start the app on their phone, scan the “customer loyalty” card for the store, and then begin shopping.  While shopping the app would be used to scan the barcodes of items as they were placed in the cart.  The app would keep a running total of both the number of items scanned as well as the total price for all items.  Once the customer completes their shopping, they would go to one of the self-checkout registers where the app would wirelessly upload the item and price information to the register, and the customer could pay as if they had scanned the items at the register as normal.  Other functionalities that need to be provided include:

1.The app should provide on-demand help for locating items in the store

2.Items should be able to be removed from the cart (and the running total adjusted)

3.Some way of dealing with grocery items that have to be weighed must be developed

4.Based on the customer’s location in the store, notification of nearby on-sale items should be brought to the customer’s attention

5.Based on items scanned, accessory items should be suggested to the customer (for example, if they buy wiper blades then washer fluid should be suggested; if they buy a particular cut of meat then a specific wine to go with it should be suggested; etc.).

She sees great potential for cost savings with the new app.  She wants this initial project to be a pilot study at the 200,000 square foot Bel Air, MD store; after that, the decision will be made about extending the app to all other stores as a separate project.  

When she leaves, you look at each other and realize that this will be a fairly complex project.  You also realize that your group does not have the technical expertise to solve all aspects of the problem in-house.  Fortunately, you have excellent project management skills and cannot wait to get started!

Project Objective 

1. The goal is to develop a smart phone application where customer can do self-check out efficiently. 

2. Moreover, the app should assist customers on locating the items 

3. The customer should able to receive notifications if there is any sale going on in the store. 

4.  Customers should able to receive accessory items.