Shop Independently with Shipt: an Accessible App that Brings the
"Store to your Door"
By Deborah Kendrick
American Foundation for the Blind
Consider a few scenarios.
You have just moved into your college dorm and you realize that you
forgot shampoo, your favorite energy bars, sheets for your bed, or
treats for your guide dog.
You're in your dentist's waiting room, and you get a text reminder
that three friends are coming over for dinner and you don't have time
to get the necessary groceries.
You just plain find going to the grocery store complicated and time
consuming and wish someone could do it for you.
The resounding solution to each of these dilemmas could well be a
business called Shipt, a service whose motto is: "We bring the store
to your door."
Imagine shopping on your mobile phone or laptop for everything from
groceries to party decorations to pet food or toilet paper, and
having it at your door in as little as an hour.
What is Shipt?
Shipt Inc. was launched in 2014 by chief executive Bill Smith in
Birmingham, Alabama. In December 2017, the grocery delivery service
company was purchased for $550 million by Target. By the end of 2018,
Shipt.com had a cadre of over 50,000 shoppers nationwide delivering
groceries, pet supplies, household goods and more directly to
customers' doors, saving busy people the time and trouble of cruising
grocery and retail aisles. For those of us who are blind or low
vision, this service is arguably a superior method to traditional
shopping since it affords us the opportunity to browse products, read
descriptions, and compare prices in a way not necessarily available
to us when shopping on site.
Shopping with Shipt can be done on a computer or through an iOS or
Android app. This article will deal primarily with the iOS version.
The stores included in the app vary from city to city, although
Target seems to be available in any area in which Shipt has launched,
as is CVS. Some locations list 6 to 8 available stores while others
offer only two or three. New locations are added every week, however,
so the likelihood of it being within the reach of most US readers of
AccessWorld is excellent.
The Shipt Shopping Experience
Let's first look at the experience from the perspective of a customer
who has already created an account and used the service at least
once.
Let's say
we are in an area where Kroger is the primary grocery store. (Those
of you who live in areas served by Publix, Meijer, Winn-Dixie,
Lucky's Market, Fresh Market, or a host of others need not worry.
Shipt shops at these and other stores as well.) Waiting for a meeting
to begin one morning, I have 15 minutes to spare and open the Shipt
app on my iPhone. It immediately shows me my own delivery address and
the next available delivery time from Kroger (usually within the next
90 minutes.) Satisfied with my own delivery address and the selected
store, I begin shopping.
A number of quick links appear. The first of these is Buy Again.
Others include On Sale, Browse, Favorites, and categories such as
Dairy, Produce, Frozen, Bakery, and Pantry..
Typically, I start my shopping with Buy Again. Here, every item I
have previously purchased will appear. Let's say the first item is
Blueberries.
Next to the name Blueberries are the words "6 ounces, price $4.69,
Open Product Detail."
Below this item description will be an Add 1 button. To add the item
to the cart, simply double tap the Add 1 button. Later, if you change
your mind, removing the item from your list is just as easy as adding
it.
Continuing
down the list of items previously purchased - milk, bananas, Swiss
cheese, and so on - I simply double tap the Add 1 button for any
desired items. To learn more about an item, double tap its name,
which includes the Open Product Detail invitation. While not all
items have information on this screen, the majority of products do.
I have never purchased Eggo's Mini Pancakes. The product detail
reads, in part, "Eggo's mini pancakes are a great tasting breakfast
option ...
Drizzle
with syrup, top them with fruit, slather on some peanut butter ... or
enjoy them for dinner."
Nutrition information appears here as well. For some products, this
screen will also include the product directions for microwave and
oven.
There is an
Add 1 button on this screen for quickly adding the product to your
cart, and a Close Product Details button in the upper left corner of
the screen to return to browsing in the same category or another. In
every list, there is a Return to Previous Page button in the upper
left corner for when you want to leave, say, the Dairy aisle to start
looking for seafood or dessert.
As is true in the brick-and-mortar version of grocery shopping, each
of us approaches a store in our own way. You might begin, as I do,
with your previously purchased items. Alternatively, you might prefer
to go directly to the On Sale list or to a specific category such as
Dairy, Frozen, Bakery, or Deli. All lists are presented the same way,
with the item name, size, and price on one line, and an Add 1 button
below. To move to another category, simply double tap the Return to
Previous Page button.
Returning to the original screen, there is always a Search option
near the top. Here, you can enter any type of food or brand name.
Just entering "avocado" for example, will net several search options:
. Search for Avocado Fresh.
. Search for Avocado Bag.
. Search for Avocado Salad.
. Search for Avocado Mayonnaise.
And so on.
Choosing Avocado Fresh nets these results:
. Previously Purchased avocado, 1 ct, $2.19.
. Avocado bag, 4 ct, sale price, $3.59.
. Organic avocados, 4 ct, price $7.39.
.And more.
Each item, of course, has the Add 1 button below it. If you were
looking for Avocado Salad Dressing, you could select Search again and
choose a new option.
Searches also offer several filters for getting more specific
results. The avocado search, for example, offers such filters as On
Sale, Kitchen, Pantry, and Personal Care. If Personal Care is chosen
as the filter, the first option in the product list is Suave Avocado
and Olive Oil Body Wash,
12.6 fl. ounces, $2.49. You can Open Product Detail here for more
information, double tap the Add 1 button to put it in your cart, or
select the Return to Previous Page button in the upper left-hand
corner to shop for snow peas or hamburger buns.
The Shipt Shopping Cart
You can go to your cart for review at any time. Once there, you will
find the list of items you have selected. Below each item are three
buttons: Add
1, Remove 1, and Add Note. If, for instance, you have placed one
honey crisp apple in your cart, you can tap the Add 1 button
repeatedly to increase that number to 2 or 3 or 4 apples. If you
placed a half-gallon of Simply Orange orange juice but later found
Tropicana, which is more to your liking, you can tap the Remove 1
button to take the first choice away. If you have ordered bananas and
you like your bananas with a bit of green on them, you can select the
Add Note button below bananas and type or dictate that preference.
When you are satisfied with your cart, there will be a checkout
button, along with your total price, in the lower left corner of the
screen.
Double
tapping this button will bring up all of your final details. First,
you can select your delivery date and time. If you want your
groceries today, you select Today and then the preferred time range.
If ordering around
11:30 in
the morning, for instance, your first choice might be from 1:00 to
2:00 PM.
From there, you can select any hour up until the store's closing
time. You can also schedule delivery for a future date and time.
After selecting your delivery time, you will be shown your payment
details. This will include the type of card you have on file, along
with its last 4 digits, and any fees that might apply. A Place Order
button will be in the lower left corner.
Once tapped, you will get a thank-you message and, before long, a
notification from your personal shopper that they have begun shopping.
Communicating with Your Shopper
It's a good idea to keep your phone with you while the shopping is
being done. You might get messages from your shopper asking you if it
is OK to substitute one brand for another if the brand you have
ordered is out of stock or if a similar product is on sale for a
lower price. You can also add to your order until your shopper sends
a message that he has completed checkout and is on the way. After
your groceries have been delivered, the app will offer you the
opportunity to rate your shopper and add a tip, which is done
electronically, not with cash in hand.
Creating an Account
Create an account by opening the site in your web browser or by
downloading the app and opening it on your iPhone or android device.
You will be asked for your name, address, phone number, and your
credit card information. You can sign up for an annual membership,
$99 annually or $8.25 per month, or, if you are less certain about
your commitment, for a monthly subscription of
$14 per month. The delivery fee will be waived for any order of at
least $35. (On those rare occasions when I need just a few items and
am thus falling below the $35, I often add one staple that I know I
will eventually use, such as a bottle of wine or box of coffee K
cups, to bring the checkout price up to $35. Of course, if you do
have less than $35 in your cart, you can still get quick delivery,
but you will pay a $7 service fee for that delivery.
Conclusion
I have used Shipt for nearly two years now. I use it regularly for
groceries, but I have also shopped for toys, clothing, cosmetics, and
other household items. Once, when I needed a holiday themed
tablecloth, I used the Add Note field to ask the shopper to call me
with descriptions when she was standing in front of the tablecloths.
She did so and I wound up with a lovely table accessory.
Shoppers come from every demographic - college students, retirees,
working moms, and others. All have been friendly and nearly all have
been excellent shoppers for fresh fruit, vegetables, and sales!
Shipt offers a number of promotions such as a two-week free trial and
$50
off your annual membership for referring a friend. To find out which
stores are shopped in your area, simply visit the Shipt website and
enter your zip code.
The Shipt app was somewhat difficult to use in its early iterations,
but feedback from blind users has definitely had an effect. Today, it
is completely accessible and VoiceOver friendly. I can put in a huge
grocery order in probably 15 minutes, and then do other things with
my time until a friendly Shipt shopper brings the store to my door.
To sign up or explore, go to the Shipt website or download Shipt from
the iTunes or Google Play store.
This article is made possible in part by generous funding from the
James H.
and Alice Teubert Charitable Trust, Huntington, West Virginia.
Comment on this article.
Related articles:
. ClickList by Kroger Expands Access to Online Grocery Shopping by
Aaron Preece . Amazon and Target Offer One-Stop Shopping Apps for
Holiday Gifts by Janet Ingber More by this author:
. AccessWorld 2018 Holiday Gift Guide . Brailliant BI14: HumanWare's
Latest Step Toward Smart in Braille Displays Product Reviews and
Guides
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