By MARK KAPCHANGA
Consumers will soon be able to tell which products to buy at affordable rates from certain supermarkets.
This follows an innovation by two secondary students.
Joseph Musembi and Fabian Kiprop, both 17, have come up with an innovation that seeks to end the frustrations people undergo while shopping.
The Form Four students at Nairobi School say they have compiled a database of all supermarkets in the country.
In the database are the prices of different commodities, which can be bought online. “This application gives consumers a variety of choices. Kenyans will be able to come up with a basket of goods at significantly affordable prices,” said Musembi. The development could be a relief to many Kenyans facing hard economic times, especially on the prices of basic commodities.
“The key feature about this technology is that shoppers can do it anywhere using devices such as smartphones,” said Kiprop. “Ultimately, we would like to see supermarkets coming up with delivery plans.”
According to Kiprop, Global Positioning System will be used in locating shoppers since Kenya is yet to come up with harmonised addresses for homes.
Modelled along online retail giants Amazon and eBay, the innovation seeks to cut on long queues and systems breakdowns. These usually occur during the end of the month or when schools are being reopened.
The benefit of shopping online is being able to quickly seek out deals for items provided by many different supermarkets.
In advanced economies, search engines, online price comparison service and discovery shopping engines are used to link up sellers of a particular product.
easy access
The development will see consumers find a product of interest by visiting the website of the retailer directly or by searching among alternative vendors using online engine.
Once a particular product has been found on the website of the seller, the retailers will use shopping cart software to allow the consumer to accumulate multiple items and to adjust quantities, just like filling a physical shopping basket in a conventional store. A checkout process will follow in which payment and delivery information is collected, if necessary.
Consumers will be able to receive an e-mail confirmation once the transaction is complete.
Apart from increasing sales for retailers, the students say the technology would help supermarkets to rapidly switch suppliers and vendors without disrupting users’ shopping experience.
Online retailing is still young despite the growing number of retail chains due to low Internet usage. However, the deep penetration of mobile payment systems could be used by the unbanked population.
Experts say higher levels of education and personal income correspond to favourable perceptions of shopping online.
Exposure to technology also increases the probability of developing favourable attitudes towards new shopping avenues.
“With the growth of online shopping comes a wealth of new market footprint coverage opportunities for stores that can appropriately cater to new market demands,” said Isaac Ondieki. Ondieki plans to expand the app beyond supermarkets.