If it’s warm tomorrow, add burgers to my shopping basket. If nappies change price, receive an email… Here are a few examples of shopping orders that you could now do online with Tesco, in the UK. What if it was a revolutionary idea?
WHAT DOES IFTTT MEAN? – IFTTT means ‘If This Then That’. It is both a website and an app that allows users to link all of their different online apps and devices in one place, in order to trigger clever actions. For example, it could be to have any photo you are tagged in on Facebook immediately downloaded in your Dropbox. It could add Prosecco to your shopping basket every time your favourite team wins a match. Or, if the temperature falls below 10°C, then it will start your connected-house’s heating.
REVOLUTIONIZING GROCERY SHOPPING – Tesco Labs uses this principle to help shoppers to automatically add items to their basket and monitor price changes on Tesco.com. Paul Wilkinson, from Tesco Labs, explained the retailer’s hope: “We’ve created our own channel on IFTTT with two triggers and a single action. You can now trigger any other action on IFTTT if the price of a Tesco product changes or if it goes below a certain price. On the action side you can use any of the triggers to add a specified item into your basket.”. A smart service to increase customer engagement.
THE INTERNET OF THINGS – Concretely, it offers more flexibility and shows us how automated shopping could stand in the near future. Although this system is not as simple as the Amazon Dash button (a remote control connected to online shopping), it creates opportunities, especially considering the Internet of Things (IoT) – the network of physical devices, buildings and items -. Soon, IFTTT could be connected to sensors in your fridge or the kitchen cupboard. Shopping habits might never be the same.
THE AMAZON DASH – In 2004, Amazon has launched the Amazon Dash project: a remote control connected in Wi-Fi and equipped with a barcode reader to shop online from home. You can scan products or record your voice to add items to your basket. The goal was to simplify online shopping. Currently in trial period, the project is charged $299 per year, a high price to pay for this new shopping style.
By Julia Illenberger