Mobile Apps

We’re hearing a lot of good things about Target lately, and myCheckout is yet another one. It’s a very simple thing, but one that I wish more stores would look into. Basically, myCheckout will allow Target employees to order items for customers when said items are out of stock, so that customers don’t have to check back in later. So, for example, if you’re shopping at Target for shoes but can’t find your size, or are looking for that particular brand of coffee but the store is out of stock, you can find a target employee who, using a handheld mobile device, will locate exactly what you want online. You will then whip out your credit card, which the employee will insert inn the device, pay for your items and go back home to await delivery. Customers who opt for this option will receive an email notification, just like they would had they ordered the item themselves from home. Or, if you need the item right away, the Target employee will be able to tell you if it’s available in any other nearby Target so you can go and buy it from there.

I often find that it’s the little things that many business don’t really think about that make the biggest difference. I mean, this new service from Target is just so convenient! How often has this scenario happened to all of us? More often that I’d like, and Target’s solution to this problem is both clever and shows just how far it’s ready to go to make life easier for its customers. Of course, customers can order online themselves if they so wish, but if you’re already in the store shopping for supplies, why not get the ordering done right there and be done with it? It makes total sense.

The service was already being tested in select Target stores since last spring and this testing period has already processed over 10,000 transactions. Target says that its myCheckout service will be implemented across all stores in time for the holiday season which, again, makes a lot of sense and will indubitably make shopping for the holidays much easier for Target customers.

I find shopping for furniture to be a mostly frustrating process. Yes, it’s great to be getting a new couch or bed, but once you’ve found something you like, you have to make sure it’ll fit in the space you saved for it, figure out if it’ll go well with your other furniture and general décor, and on more than one occasion, even after measuring carefully and making a final decision, I found myself either not liking the final look of the room or realizing that  I didn’t measure that carefully after all. In short, shopping for furniture is a pain that doesn’t always leads to good or satisfying results.

This is why I’m glad to hear that Target has taken some of the hassle out of furniture shopping by introducing an app that allows shoppers to take a picture of a room in their home and drag pieces of the retailer’s furniture to see how they would look in any space. The app also allows users to move and rotate furniture to their heart’s content, making it easy to see 1) if the furniture will fit in the space and 2) if it will go well with the rest of the house. Brilliant.

This new app comes on the heels of other high-tech new features for Target, who recently introduced, in collaboration with Pinterest, an app that allows users to take a picture of an object they like and see what similar objects are available at Target. It is perhaps important to mention that this new app is only available through mobile web as, according to a Target spokesperson, “…by using mobile web, it’s a simple experience — guests can easily snap pictures using their phone, they don’t have to use any additional hardware or apps. We just felt like it was a really straightforward experience.”

There are currently only 200 pieces of furniture to choose from at the moment, but Target is confident that there will be many, many more added to the app by 2018. The app also allows customers to add whatever piece of furniture to their cart, making the whole process fast and easy. The only downside to shopping virtually is that one would have no idea how comfortable their new couch or chair might be, but I suppose one could make their way to the store to try them on after they’ve ascertained that the piece will be a welcome addition to their home.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about Walmart’s testing of store-to-fridge delivery, which would allow Walmart employees to gain access to your home while you’re out to put your groceries away for you – an idea that I thought was novel but left me skeptic because Walmart did not require you to have a security camera to supervise the process. Amazon is now taking this idea a step further with its new Amazon Key service, which will allow couriers to deliver your packages right inside your front door if you’re not home, instead of relying on a ‘safe’ place of your choosing outside your house. And Amazon, unlike Walmart, does require you to have a camera to make sure nothing is stolen or untoward – more specifically, Amazon’s Cloud Cam. Here’s how it works.

You install a smart lock on your door, and Amazon’s Cloud Cam to your home (if you don’t already have one). When the courier arrives with your package, he or she will scan the bar code, which will activate an access request to the cloud. Once approved, the camera will start recording, the courier uses the app to unlock your door, leaves the package, re-locks your door and leaves. Once the process is complete, you get a notification on your app and a feed of the footage covering the delivery, which puts your mind at ease that all is well back at home. I’m more on board with this idea because 1) you are required to have a camera to cover the process (which is also a good thing for the courier, as if something is missing, or the house burglarized on the day of the delivery, they cannot be blamed) and 2) the courier doesn’t actually enter your house at all, simply reaches inside to drop your package. This, to me, makes more sense than Walmart’s potentially unsecure, almost invasion-of-privacy delivery idea.

What’s also neat about Amazon Key is that it isn’t merely for deliveries: you could use the key to let other people (people you trust, I should specify) like house cleaners, temporary guests or house sitters without wondering who you’ve given a key to and how many of them came back. You decide who can get in and when, and if you find out that someone has stolen from you or you simply don’t want them back, they can’t disappear with your key causing you to have to change the lock.