Asda has created ‘digital replicas’ of 10 stores and added them to a wayfinding app that can guide users to specific product categories and store landmarks.
The supermarket partnered with GoodMaps to map the stores using LIDAR (Light Detection And Ranging). The maps generated have now been added to the GoodMaps app, which is aimed at blind and partially sighted people to help them navigate indoor spaces.
The app can pinpoint the user’s location within one metre of accuracy and then communicate directions to product groups or areas via audio, enlarged visual, and touch commands. As well as being directed to product categories – “the aim being to guide the customer as close as possible to the item they are looking for” Asda said – shoppers can use the app to search for landmarks within the store such as the pharmacy, toilets or tills.
Integration with the GoodMaps app was first trialled by Asda in December last year at its innovation test bed store in Stevenage.
“The Stevenage trial showed us that this technology can really make a difference to customers who previously had difficulty navigating the aisles whilst shopping,” said Neil Fairclough, senior director of retail transformation at Asda.
“The value of these trials is that we can take the learnings from each step and better integrate the technology as we go further into the trial phase, ensuring an even better experience for our customers and colleagues in these trial stores,” he added.
Following the success of the Stevenage trial, stores in Blackburn, Caerphilly, Hulme, Totton, York, Killingbeck, Milton Keynes, Aintree, Queslett and Wembley are now being added to the app.
“Empowering people to get around autonomously, on their terms, and in a manner of their choosing, has been an aspirational goal for decades,” said Neil Barnfather, VP Europe for GoodMaps.
“Asda’s unrivalled commitment to breaking down barriers to inclusion revolutionises how our community can perform a fundamental basic need, to be able to buy your weekly shop.”
It is understood Asda is planning to broaden the availability of its store on the app in the future.
The move has been welcomed by advocates for blind and partially sighted people.
“We know that shopping can be a challenge, from navigating a store, to locating and understanding products,” Marc Powell, RNIB accessibility innovation lead. “That is why it’s so great to see an influential retailer such as Asda proactively championing accessibility through technology.
“This is an encouraging step forward in creating a more inclusive world and an example of how improving accessibility for people with sight loss can actually enhance the customer experience for everyone,” he added.
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