Mobile Mondays is a weekly column on mobile apps by retail customer experience authority Mike Wittenstein. Each week, you’ll get a test drive of a leading retail app including pictures of key features and commentary on what works—and what doesn’t.

The Meijer Find-It app makes it easy to find things in the store. The best part of the Find-It algorithm is that in addition to searching for something you already know the name for (e.g. “SOS Soap Pads”), you can also find products just by entering your need (e.g. “Cleaning + Kitchen”). It’s super helpful when your store has 50,000 SKUs or more.

Meijer’s Find-It app opens almost instantly.

The home screen shows the app’s six main functions. In this review, we’ll focus only on the search bar and what supports it.

Special offers are presented at the bottom of the screen. Swiping left or right changes the ads. Usually, you swipe to see more content. This is a very user-centric design, one that other stores should follow. It’s bound to improve sales, provide better shopper insights and increase ad revenue all at the same time.

Type ahead is provided to aid in finding the right thing while eliminating the need for perfect spelling or extra keystrokes.

If you search by category instead of product, you get ALL instances of your need presented within the store’s various departments. In this example, the search term “Cleaning” brings up:
• Body washes, soaps and shampoos under Beauty Care
• Rug, floor, and surface cleaners under Hard Home
• Detergents and such under Consumables
• Fish cleaning ‘stuff’ and dog washing products under Pets

Here’s the coolest feature of all. Clicking on a product shows you where to find it in the store.

You can even find the store’s other services just as easily.

The technology behind this wonderfully easy feature is PointInside. They offer a variety of shopper assistance apps and behind-the-scenes technologies that you can white label. The applications for "inside space" are nearly infinite. PointInside has already geotagged a number of shopping centers and airports around the country.

Zoom in to see store-level detail, get a description and phone number.

The single most valuable feature in Meijer’s Find-It app is the product locator. Knowing exactly where to find something instead of hunting, feeling disappointed, asking and wasting time is an app feature every retailer needs to consider.

What's Good
• Load time is fast
• Store maps and product directory are well integrated
• Multiple ads are user selectable from the homepage

What's Not So Good
• It’s hard to scroll down a long list of items in multiple categories
• There’s no on-screen indication to show which direction you’re facing, so you can orient yourself
• Products and services are not integrated (e.g. 10” Apple Pie, but no custom cake design)

What I Would Do
• Allow bi-directional searching, especially starting with a map location
• Use twist-down arrows on the search screen to speed scrolling through multiple categories
• Supply product information through the push pin at any time
• Put a “Map It” button on the featured items so you can see where to find them on the store map
• Also show the shopper’s current position on the map
• Allow shopping by recipe for surgical shoppers who want to get in and out fast. 
• Consider a voice interface once the technology gets better
• Provide orientation markers in the stores (on the walls or ceilings)
• Tie products and services together using the ad space at the bottom of the screen
• Expand the interface so that the mall and store apps can be combined. This would let you shop an entire mall with the convenience of knowing where to go to get what you need right from the start. This ability would also create wonderful promotions and customer insight opportunities.