grocery shopping
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Buy4Me brings groceries to you
Buy4Me is a productivity app that helps users create grocery lists, and also find people in their area who are looking to earn coins to shop for other users. This app claims to be for people with limited time and mobility, and also for people who enjoy helping others in exchange for a tip. It requires iOS7 or later and is optimized for the iPhone 5 but also compatible with the iPad and iPod touch. The app comes with two free coins. A user is able to purchase up to 30 coins for only $3.99. Announcing an order in the app costs 1 coin. You can declare your method of payment and how much you are willing to offer someone to run to the store and get your half pound of bacon or whatever it is you wish to get there. Users are able to buy groceries for other users and create lists for other users to claim. You simply add in whatever it is you are looking to buy, the amount you need, and you can also include notes specifying brand names. The price estimate is left up to the user, which is tricky. Prices for many items tend to vary from grocery store to grocery store and often change each week due to changes in produce availability. The interface is user friendly and simple. Select "My Orders" to see your shopping lists you have created, and click "Go shopping" to view your open orders and previous shopping trips. The bright green and orange theme is pleasant. The icons - such as a grocery cart, a piggy bank, and notepads - while basic, are clear and purposeful indicators for what each tab is for. I don't see this app being useful for places where online grocery delivery is already very popular. In big cities like New York, companies such as Fresh Direct allow someone to quickly arrange grocery delivery from professionals while also being able to see exact pricing for goods. I think it's risky to trust just any stranger to buy your food for you. I personally am not comfortable with giving out my address and paying a stranger who has not been hired by a company which would require a proper background check for employees. Additionally, who is responsible for damaged grocery items or items the user wishes to return? If Buy4Me can figure out a way to link Facebook profiles and do background checks for grocery buyers (something apps like Airbnb do that seems to work most of the time), that might solve that issue, but it seems like a lot of work for grocery shopping when easier options already exist. I recommend Buy4Me for people who are looking for a cheaper option for online grocery delivery. The app is also useful for users who are interested in delivering groceries to people who need some help keeping their shelves stocked.
Chelsea Taylor10.14.2014
Grocery List - Buy Me a Pie! lets you bump and share your grocery lists
Gone are the days of the handwritten grocery list. With apps like Grocery List - Buy Me a Pie!, iOS owners can ditch the pen and paper and grab their iPhone the next time they head out to the grocery store. Design Grocery List - Buy Me a Pie! has the look and feel of your typical paper shopping list. The top part of the app has the appearance of a ripped piece of paper and contains the items on your shopping list. The bottom half of the app is dark grey and holds the items that are checked off your list as you shop. There's also a list management screen that allows you create new lists and manage multiple lists. The top part of the app is also where you build your list, one item at a time. You can type in an item or select one using the pre-installed entries. Unlike some shopping apps that have hundreds of items (most of which you won't use), Grocery List - Buy Me a Pie! includes a variety of staple foods like milk, OJ and carrots. The items in the database are not written in stone. You can delete each item or modify it to reflect your personal preferences. For example, you can easily change the entry for mayonnaise to Hellmann's Mayonnaise so you remember to buy the brand name instead of the generic. Each item in your list can have a quantity that you choose when you add it to your list and a color to help you organize your list. Unlike other shopping companions, Grocery List - Buy Me a Pie! uses colors instead of categories or aisles to sort your list. Though the colors look nice, I found them difficult to remember, especially when dealing with a long list of items. I can easily recall that milk is dairy and bread is bakery, but I was constantly forgetting that milk is yellow and bread is green. This labeling convention got easier as I used the app, but it still isn't as intuitive as text-based categories. Functionality Grocery List - Buy Me a Pie! is delightful to use. Its emphasis is on easy management so there are not a lot of details to enter or settings to tweak. Adding two cartons of eggs is as easy as typing Eggs:2 and hitting enter. You can also select items from a database that ships with the app. This list of shopping items in the app's database is dynamic, and the app stores new items that you add to your shopping list. It also prompts your to enter these stored items the next time you try to add them to your list. When I added Fluff to my most recent grocery list, it was also stored in the database. The next time I went to add fluff to my list, I typed "fl" and the app prompted me to enter "Fluff." It's a small feature, but a handy one that helps to minimize your typing time. Similar to other shopping apps, Grocery List - Buy Me a Pie! has a syncing feature that lets you share your list across multiple devices. The app syncs to an account you create through Skript, the company behind the Buy Me a Pie! app. Syncing was extremely quick and notification support made sure everyone else following your list was alerted of any changes. The latest version of the app also adds a bump feature that allows you to bump two iOS devices to share a list. Conclusion Grocery List - Buy Me a Pie! is a lightweight shopping app that makes it easy to manage multiple shopping lists on your iOS devices. It doesn't have the advanced features of other shopping apps like Grocery Gadget, but it makes up for it with a clean, efficient UI and fast syncing. Grocery List - Buy Me a Pie! is on sale this week for US$0.99, which makes it a must-have for iOS owners. Pros Neat, clean interface Quick and easy way to enter items on your device Fast syncing of lists between devices Cons Missing features like aisles, coupons and photos that are found in other shopping apps Color coding to sort items is visually appealing, but harder to remember than categories Who is it for? Anyone looking for a lightweight grocery shopping app with easy entry of items and blazing fast syncing.
Kelly Hodgkins12.26.2012
Whole Foods experimenting with Kinect-powered shopping carts that are smarter than you (video)
Here's a little secret Whole Foods doesn't like to advertise: they want, nay, demand, that a rather large percentage of residents near its highfalutin grocery stores have a college degree. Apparently you've gotta be smart to navigate its aisles crowded with over-priced organic wares and exotic condiments. Perhaps, though, the company has realized the error of its ways and wants to move in to new markets. That doesn't mean it trusts you and your high school diploma to decipher all those labels with difficult to pronounce words on them. A new experimental shopping cart is being tested by the market that puts a tablet and a Kinect in the driver's seat -- literally. Because you can't be expected to multi-task, the cart drives itself, monitors your shopping list and can even warn you if you grab the wrong item, thus protecting you from your own inability to avoid aggravating your peanut allergy. Check it out in action after the break.
Terrence O'Brien02.29.2012
SK Telecom's Smart Cart syncs to phones, reminds you to buy milk
Familiar with this scenario? You put off grocery shopping until the weekend, curse your way through the irate Sunday morning hordes, and then schlep your food all the way home only to realize you forgot to buy dish soap and use those coupons. Good thing, then, that SK Telecom is trialing a new service that syncs items from a smartphone app -- like a shopping list -- to its tablet PC-equipped Smart Cart. Hailed by the company as the first of its kind, this real-time aide uses indoor positioning to provide product info, tips and discounts while you peruse those crowded aisles. The WiFi-connected in-cart display also makes use of augmented reality, offering coupon clippers a high-tech solution for their cost-cutting predilections. If the current pilot test in China's Shanghai Lotus Supermarkets proves a success, expect to see this "personalized smart shopping service" doling out recommendations based on purchase history and location. Hear that? That's the sound of marketers licking their hyper targeting chops. Full PR is after break.
Joseph Volpe07.27.2011