New app could put an end to 'out of stock' items
Retail
New app gives customers rewards for tracking empty shelves, delivering the data to stores to help them avoid stock deficits.
One of the most annoying aspects of grocery shopping for consumers is arriving at the store to find the items they wan’t are sold out. There’s typically nothing supermarkets can do about it at the time, but now Shelfie is giving customers rewards for tracking empty shelves, delivering the data to stores to help them avoid stock defecits.
Developed by Cincinnati-based marketing analysts Datacrowd, consumers that download the app can take a ‘shelfie’ — a picture of the empty shelf and accompanying product tag — every time they come across one. They can then send the image along with their GPS location to the Datacrowd team. In return, they’re offered reward points that can be redeemed in store, or used to spend on other participating brands. Datacrowd then alerts supermarkets with data about when, where and which products are out of stock, enabling them to tweak their inventories to reduce the incidence of empty shelves.
Shelfie is free to download from the App Store and Google Play, although it’s currently only available to US consumers. Are there other ways for national and international businesses to tap crowdsourcing techniques to monitor performance at even their most far-flung locations?
30th September 2014
Email: info@getdatacrowd.com
Website: www.takeashelfie.com
Contact: info@getdatacrowd.com