Check it Out: The Best of Both Worlds

Still old-fashioned (or as old-
fashioned as you can be at my age) I guess, I prefer shopping 
in-store than online. That said, there's few things worse that you can subject me to — think along the lines of Monday morning staff meetings and episodes of the Real Housewives series — than standing in a never-ending, not moving checkout line. So, you can see my dilemma.

Well, now there's a solution to my problem. Combining the best features of online shopping with the in-store experience, mobile shopping platform provider AisleBuyer has launched the first-ever virtual assistant and mobile self-checkout system. Here's how it works: Any consumer who downloads the AisleBuyer app and enters a store powered by the vendor can scan product barcodes and complete purchases all on their smartphone — eliminating the need to stand in long lines.

AisleBuyer's app, available for download at the iTunes App store, provides PCI-compliant self-checkout, and also gives shoppers access to product information, reviews/recommendations and behaviorally targeted coupons previously only available to online shoppers.

AisleBuyer's app includes five modules:

* digital circular: sends timely, "location-based" store offers to consumers at no cost to deliver increased foot traffic;

* smart clerk: provides UPC scans of products to deliver product information, reviews and social shopping features;

* dynamic couponing: serves behaviorally targeted and timely "in-aisle" coupons to automatically cross-sell product categories and increase conversion;

* self-checkout: allows consumers to complete transactions via a patent-pending smartphone-based mobile self-checkout feature linked to preferred credit cards and retailer loyalty programs; and

* advanced analytics: provides retailers with business intelligence and real-time behavioral metrics previously only available to online merchants. This data is critical to providing personalized offers, making better merchandising decisions and identifying high-value shoppers.

Retailers Benefit, Too
AisleBuyer's solution affords retailers the opportunity to profit as well, helping to drive foot traffic through targeted, "location-aware" offers; reduce the number of abandoned carts through behaviorally targeted couponing; and reduce costs through better merchandising decisions, said Chuck Ball, executive vice president and head of marketing at AisleBuyer, in a company press release.