What action will you take?

[Rob Manson]

Evening all,

following up from the @price_check tweet that just went out:

Poll is now closed http://twtpoll.com/aoawi4 & the results were
pretty tame 8( Top 2 items "submit an idea" & "write a post" so
lets see em!

Thought I'd also send an email in case you missed it in the flood of
messages in your tweet stream.

Any positive action is welcome.

We've attraced nearly 200 followers and had closer to a thousand
visitors to the google groups page ( http://tr.im/price_check )
in only one week!

However, I get the feeling that a lot of people are simply interested in
@price_check to see how this type of experiment works, more than wanting
to take any tangible action to resolve this price information issue.

If that's all you're interested in then that's fine, I must admit I'm
not the most price sensitive consumer in the world either - but the
hypocrisy of this whole issue is what has fired me up.

I believe that now is the time to turn this discussion into some
tangible action - or draw a line in the sand and close this experiment.

I'd love to hear your opinions/thoughts and thanks for all your support
so far...it certainly has been interesting.

roBman

[RockyShark]

I missed the Poll, but I'd be most interested in helping out with the
Crowd Sourcing web application. I think, if the supermarkets are going
to resist any official channels to participate, then we should just go
around them.

How many others are up for this?

On Jul 5, 6:45 pm, Rob Manson <roB...@MOBusiness.com.au> wrote:
> Evening all,
>
> following up from the @price_check tweet that just went out:
>

>         Poll is now closedhttp://twtpoll.com/aoawi4& the results were

[Simon Rumble]

2009/7/6 RockyShark <rocky...@gmail.com>

I missed the Poll, but I'd be most interested in helping out with the
Crowd Sourcing web application. I think, if the supermarkets are going
to resist any official channels to participate, then we should just go
around them.

How many others are up for this?

Sure.

Another approach might be to use the supermarkets who are willing to play ball (Aldi and Foodworks) to allow people to quickly compare products.  Using a smartphone, scan the barcode on a product in Coles or Woolworths and immediately get how much it'll cost in your nearest Aldi or Foodworks.

--
Simon Rumble <si...@rumble.net>

[Rob Manson]

Hey Simon,

I think this is an excellent idea! (see message below).

I've refined it a little and here's how I think we could make it work.

Create an "open price service" that any supermarket can add
products/prices to. This will make it easy for people to search
by postcode/product and will return prices for each of the main
supermarket chains for easy comparison.

Since ALDI already have a great API for this we can simply start
by importing their product/price data on a regular basis.

Then we'll create some simple mobile apps that will let people
do "price checks" when they're out and about shopping - either
just one product or multiple.

If the other supermarkets haven't listed a price, or the price
is not what you're seeing on the shelf then the user can enter
this information from their phone.

This should be enough to kick start the process and should
create some public pressure for the other chains to also open up
their pricing data like ALDI have.


I've contacted the ALDI people and so far they seem to be supportive of
this idea. They seem to be embracing "transparency" and also have a
flat pricing strategy and an existing open API!


I think this is really exciting AND achievable.


NOTE: We're happy to provide hosting & initial development and will make
it Open Source so anyone interested can get involved and contribute.


What are your thoughts?


Also, if you think this is a good idea then please write a blog post,
tweet a message and tell your friends about it. Crowd sourcing relies
on having a "crowd"! We've got a great start (you) but we need more.



roBman

PS: If you are from any of the other supermarkets and you're reading
this then we'd love for you to participate too. Feel free to reply to
the group or me directly, whichever suits you best.

[chieftech]

Do you have any details on the Aldi API?

Also, did you all see this about Tesco's in the UK?

Eggs, Milk, Bread - the World’s First Grocery API
http://blog.programmableweb.com/2009/07/14/eggs-milk-bread-the-worlds-first-grocery-api/

Interesting that they say:

"...Tesco’s committment is so strong, they’re inviting developers to
an open innovation day on August 5. Developers, customers and Tesco
employees will join in London to improve online grocery shopping.

This sort of API should be a no brainer for companies already doing
business on the web. Expect even more retailers over the next few
years to cater to developers, because the return on the minimal
investment has the potential to be huge. Trailblazers often set the
standard. So, even if you don’t have a Tesco near you, pay attention.
Someday your grocery store’s API could look just like theirs."

James

> > 2009/7/6 RockyShark <rockysh...@gmail.com>

[Luke]

I can also help out with the web app
if written correctly the web app should also work as iphone app web
(cos everyone has an iphone :P)

On Jul 7, 7:39 am, RockyShark <rockysh...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I missed the Poll, but I'd be most interested in helping out with the
> Crowd Sourcing web application. I think, if the supermarkets are going
> to resist any official channels to participate, then we should just go
> around them.
>
> How many others are up for this?
>
> On Jul 5, 6:45 pm, Rob Manson <roB...@MOBusiness.com.au> wrote:
>
> > Evening all,
>
> > following up from the @price_check tweet that just went out:
>

> >         Poll is now closedhttp://twtpoll.com/aoawi4&the results were

[Senectus .]

2009/7/24 Luke <durran...@gmail.com>

I can also help out with the web app
if written correctly the web app should also work as iphone app web
(cos everyone has an iphone :P)

In the interest of the consumer I would like to point out I have a Blackberry Bold and my lovely wife a Nokia N95.

:-P

--
Ubuntu Jaunty 9.04

[Joseph Ortenzi]

I highlight the "if written correctly..."

Also, the iPhone app could assist in media and early-adopter exposure.

--
================================
two wheels good.....
================================
j...@ortenzi.com
+61 (0)434 047 804
http://www.typingthevoid.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/jortenzi
http://twitter.com/wheelyweb
http://www.facebook.com/joseph.ortenzi
Skype / brightkite/other: wheelyweb

[Rob Manson]

Absolutely - all web enabled mobiles should be able to be supported.

Also very glad to see you're using Linux!! 8)

"Ubuntu Jaunty 9.04"

And Luke yes...the website will be developed in a way that can
seamlessly support all these different devices from PC's through to
Plain Old Mobiles (POMs).

It will definitely be Open Source so all help welcome.


roBman

--
Rob Manson
m: +61 423 215 731
e: roB...@MOBusiness.com.au
l: http://www.linkedin.com/in/robertmanson
t: http://twitter.com/nambor
s: http://slideshare.net/robman


----------------------------------------------------------------------
Don't miss our presentation on Pervasive Computing
and Business Strategy at Web Directions South 2009
http://south09.webdirections.org/program/business#pervasive-computing

----------------------------------------------------------------------


MOB is an Innovation Lab for Mobile & Online Business
MOB : Innovations that get you MO'Business
http://MOBusiness.com.au

[polypep]

Hi Rob,

I would like to participate. At the moment I use my shopping receipts
and shopping catalogues to compare and record prices when preparing to
go grocery shopping, in an attempt to save a few hard-earned dollars.
Could I contribute by collecting prices from these sources or from the
actual shelf while I am shopping and uploading them somewhere?

Is that the idea, to create a site where people can check prices in
their local area? I don't have a smartphone so won't be able to scan
anything, and don't have an iPhone so won't be able to use the app
(disadvantaged aren't I lol), but could do it the old fashioned way
i.e. type it in.

Waddya reckon?

Polypep

On Jul 5, 6:45 pm, Rob Manson <roB...@MOBusiness.com.au> wrote:

> Evening all,
>
> following up from the @price_check tweet that just went out:
>

>         Poll is now closedhttp://twtpoll.com/aoawi4& the results were

[Rob Manson]

Hi Polypep,

that's exactly the idea.

The first set of screen flows we created were aimed at mobile phones -
but the app will really allow you to do this via your PC's web browser
too.

You're exactly the person we want to make this application useful for.
So you can collect the prices any way that suits you and enter them in
via your PC's web browser or a mobile phone if you have one.

Because ALDI already provide their pricing data in an open way that we
can easily use then their prices will already be in our database. So
you can find the product you're looking for and then enter the prices
you found for that product in your local supermarket/postcode.

We'll have some more detailed mockups of the application up on the site
next week so we'd really love your feedback and ideas to help make sure
this is really useful and is something you'd actually use.

Thanks for joining in!


roBman

[Damien Donnelly]

It looks good, at least in terms of the idea to communicate the message, tick and $ communicates it well.

Damien Donnelly
http://www.damiendonnelly.com