Zaandam, 9 July 2010 – Albert Heijn today launches a new version of Appie, its free service helping customers remember, select and get their shopping. Today's new Appie comes with a barcode scanner that customers can easily use with their mobile phone cameras to put products on their shopping lists.
Shopping list
Shopping just got a lot easier: using their mobile phones, customers can use their Appie barcode scanners to check their fridges and store cupboards to help create their shopping lists. And it works outside the home as well: the scanner will help remember any Albert Heijn product that strikes the customer's fancy.
Scanning barcodes could hardly be simpler. Just open the barcode scanner, point the mobile phone's camera at the product's barcode and Appie will find it, quickly scanning one product after another and adding them to your shopping list. Appie recognises all items in the Albert Heijn product range.
Users' wishes
The barcode scanner meets an often-expressed wish of Appie users, and it might have even more applications in the future, such as retrieval of detailed product and price information. The wishes and suggestions of its users typically serve as a key resource for Appie's further development, and users are encouraged to state these through different media and by way of Appie itself. Albert Heijn is looking forward to hearing about its customers' experiences with the barcode scanner and welcomes any suggestions they might have.
Appie
Appie helps customers remember, select and get their shopping. Shopping lists are quick and easy to make with its auto-suggest and barcode scanner functions, and special offers and previous picks are simple to add. Appie also comes with over 9,000 recipes, from Albert Heijn's instore magazine Allerhande among other sources. Its quick recipe finder helps select recipes and makes it easy to add ingredients to shopping lists. Appie helps customers actually get their shopping by organising their lists in keeping with their routes through their Albert Heijn stores, and allows for items to be ticked off once in their shopping carts or baskets. It also has a store finder with addresses and opening hours.
A free Albert Heijn service, Appie was first launched on iPhone in November 2009 and has recently also been extended to Google Android phones. The new Appie version is available today from the App Store and Google Android Market, and its launch reflects Albert Heijn's aim to make shopping as pleasurable an experience as possible. To enable as many customers as possible to make use of Appie, Albert Heijn will start offering the service from its ah.nl website in the course of 2010.