A mobile shopping assistant

Abstract

In recent years, the popularity of mobile phones has increased and so did their functionalities. A mobile phone was primarily intended for communication, but with advancements in technology it is nowadays used as a multifunctional compact portable device. Technology has also greatly improved the retailing industry by providing online stores and the availability to buy online (e-commerce). In spite of such improvement however, in-store shopping, which can be time-consuming, has not been eliminated and it has scarcely benefited from improvements in technology. With this scenario in mind, a system using the customers' mobile phones to assist customers in a shop to buy their needs in an efficient way was developed. The mobile shopping assistant aims at providing the facility to the customer to create a shopping list on his/her mobile phone, which after entering the shop can be sent wirelessly to the shop's system. In return, the customer receives the shop's map showing the route to follow to pick all items in the shopping list. Whenever items in the shopping list are not found in stock, a list of similar items is sent to the customer. Functionalities such as suggesting items that might be needed for recipes/events, special offers notifications and billing facility are also provided by the mobile shopping assistant.