Tesco has updated its Groceries iPhone app to include a barcode reader that lets shoppers add items to a their online home delivery order.
The tool is being targeted at busy parents and time-poor professionals who want to be able to add specific items to their online shopping basket at any time rather than browsing for groceries to add to their shopping lists.
Tesco said the tool would be useful for those times when a customer tries a new food at a friend’s house that they want to buy or a child has finished the last of their favourite yoghurt while out and about – a quick scan will see the item added to a shopping basket where it will remain until the customer is ready to checkout.
Laura Wade-Gery, chief executive of Tesco.com and Tesco Direct, said: “We’re always looking for ways to make life easier for customers and for busy mums in particular. The barcode scanner will make online ordering much quicker for those that have an iPhone. Customers can simply scan the barcode of grocery products stocked by Tesco whilst on the go and add them into their online shopping basket.
“This is the perfect solution for iPhone lovers that are always forgetting to add items to their shopping list or haven’t the time to even write one.”
Tesco’s four iPhone apps (including the Clubcard, Store Finder and the Wine Finder apps) have over 1m downloads between them, with the Grocery app alone notching 400,000 downloads since it launched in early September 2010.
The supermarket giant said the barcode scanner will find any item stocked by the supermarket rather than just own-brand products, but it will not work on larger items as the group said they will not fit in the supermarket’s delivery vans.
