Online supermarket Ocado has set up an experiment in virtual shopping in Bristol’s Cabot Circus, asking visitors to do their grocery shopping using their mobile phone.
Live between November 4 and 10, Ocado’s integrated window display lets Bristolians order items from the display by taking a picture with their phone.
The items available range from tea bags and toilet rolls to pasta and potatoes. Those ordered by shoppers, who have downloaded the Ocado app, will then be delivered direct to their homes.
The Ocado virtual store at Unit 16 of Cabot Circus, between Ernest Jones and Wallis on Concorde Street, will be accessible 24 hours a day with customers able to shop in a few easy steps:
- If you don’t have it already, download the Ocado On The Go app from the App Store or Android Market
- Open the app and press the barcode symbol in the top right of your screen
- Hold the camera screen over the barcode of a product until it recognises it
- When the product appears on your screen, press ‘add’ to put it in your basket
- Keep on shopping and then check out.
The online supermarket first hit the high street this August at the One New Change shopping centre in central London. It was the first time that Ocado, a strictly online business, had migrated from the internet to bricks and mortar. However, introducing the world’s first supermarket shopping mobile application on iPhone in 2009 and now, this month, launching onto Blackberry and Windows Phone 7 handsets, the company stuck to its digital technology roots.
Jason Gissing, Ocado co-founder, said: “Taking the virtual window shopping experience to Bristol is a natural move for Ocado, following a successful trial of this bold venture in London.
“Bristol is the perfect choice because, as of March, we started making our first deliveries here, and to people in the surrounding areas. The response since we arrived has been great. We hope that our loyal customers, and a few new faces, are just as excited to browse our innovative shop front, as we were to create it.”
Head down to Cabot Circus from today until the end of next week geared with your mobile phone to trial this truly window shopping experience.
