I think the concept is inevitable, the problem is how do you get there? To some degree, Groupon's mobile app was supposed to do something similar, but on a more generalized basis.
Here is what I would do (and yeah I've run my own business for many years, always easier said than done.)
#1 Build this produce but make it specific to a specific retailer or chain.
#2 For #1 to happen, the system needs to be pretty much "free to try" and seamless for the retailer. Think about that one real hard.
#3 Build a checkout system where customers walk in to the store and walk out with the product. All sales happen electronically, payments through the application.
#4 Now instead of "Walgreens App", "CVS App", etc, you consolidate the data in to one system. This sounds far fetched, but is very much the business model Google has employed. Tens of billions of dollars of customers flow through Google's platform. Google's method of consolidation include search algorithm "updates", opaque Adwords "quality score", moving Google Shopping from free to paid, and so on.
If no one manages to accomplish #4, retailers will start doing it internally. To some limited degree, it is already being done.
Accomplishing all of this could take a while. Whats certain is the US has a vast overcapacity in retail, and people waste too much time wandering through stores trying to find crap (and then there is the whole driving to stores thing for the rest of the non-urban areas.)
Here is what I would do (and yeah I've run my own business for many years, always easier said than done.)
#1 Build this produce but make it specific to a specific retailer or chain.
#2 For #1 to happen, the system needs to be pretty much "free to try" and seamless for the retailer. Think about that one real hard.
#3 Build a checkout system where customers walk in to the store and walk out with the product. All sales happen electronically, payments through the application.
#4 Now instead of "Walgreens App", "CVS App", etc, you consolidate the data in to one system. This sounds far fetched, but is very much the business model Google has employed. Tens of billions of dollars of customers flow through Google's platform. Google's method of consolidation include search algorithm "updates", opaque Adwords "quality score", moving Google Shopping from free to paid, and so on.
If no one manages to accomplish #4, retailers will start doing it internally. To some limited degree, it is already being done.
Accomplishing all of this could take a while. Whats certain is the US has a vast overcapacity in retail, and people waste too much time wandering through stores trying to find crap (and then there is the whole driving to stores thing for the rest of the non-urban areas.)