Adreanna Konsur- "The Smart Cart"

Problem – New Product Strategy

The main shopper's of the world are stay at home moms. Sure you see them during the week grabbing a few items to make dinner with, but the splurge happens on Friday. Wanna know why? Because their husbands get paid on Friday's. Many moms carry a list of the needed items but often stray away from it, while others carry handfuls of coupons that they spent hours painfully clipping out of the newspaper. However, what if there were an invention that you could have a scanner at your fingertips, a daily list of items on sale, and a internal calculator that keeps your budget on track. Meet "The Smart Cart"! The "Smart Cart" is a normal shopping cart with a built in computer system that allows you to put your budget in the calculator and subtract each item you scan keeping you under budget. This system not only keeps housemaker's on budget but is also great for college students! Along with a calculator system the "Smart Cart" is environmentally friendly. Instead on stores having to waste paper printing hundreds of shopper's guides and sending them to their customer's the "Smart Cart" will have an internal daily shopper's guide telling the customer not only how much each item is but also what items are on sale that day, and what isle you can find them on. Hate standing in line to check out? you won't have to anymore. Since each item in your cart that you are purchasing will be already scanned into the computer system, all the shopper needs to do is visit a cashier and with a few clicks of the button you're done and on your way!

Idea Generation/ Idea Screening

I realized how difficult and time consuming shopping is. For those who have to do this task more than once a week know that the time spent shopping could be used for so many other things. However, I did not know that this product existing before typing this. The "Smart Cart" apparently is an actual item however I believe that it is not yet out on the market and that is why I have the name in quotations.

Business Analysis:

What is likely the demand for the product?

I feel that when this item actually becomes readily available that there will be a high demand for it. People would use this product all the time because it would save so much time and energy.

Would current customers benefit from the product?

Yes, I feel that everyone who shops would benefit from this product. It may also interest people who chose not to shop because it would be less of a hassle for them.

What is the risk of failure?

I think that there is a long risk of failure. Technology is constantly pushing us forward and I feel that this product would help in that way. As long as the product was engineered properly I think that it would flourish.

What new facilities, if any, would be needed?

I do not believe that we would need new facilities to make this product. I think that with the technology that is already around this product would be simple to make.

Development

As mentioned above I feel that this product would be simple to develop and that it would not take a lot of time to do so. The computer system would be easy to install into a shopping cart and the information could simply be uploaded daily to each cart through the use of the internet and the store's website page.

Test Marketing

I would test this product in a store that receives many daily shoppers and has long lines when it is busy. I think Walmart would work quite well. I feel that many people would enjoy the ease of using this product.

How might competitors respond?

Competitors could respond to this product by allowing it to go online so that you could get free coupons without having to clip them out of the paper, however, if I had invented this product I would include this feature.