We have rearranged our action plan a bit.

1. We intend to prepare well for the meeting with Mike of Save-on-Foods on Feb 20th:

– Finalize the list of questions to know more about issues faced by retail stores and how our solution might fit in. We already have a long list suggested by our mentor, Mario.

– Prepare a demo using a limited product list

We would like to provide Mike the option of viewing a demo of a limited version of the product at a Save-on store close to his office. To this end, we have visited a Save-on store at Langley and collected data that would help us build a map. He would be able to view the location of a limited set of 10 products using the app. The demo will not show the location of the customer in the store – that feature would require more work, including RF fingerprinting. We have also decided to put the plan to demo at IKEA on hold for now.

2. Meet and interview decision makers at other retail stores. Targets are T&T Supermarkets, Memory Express. Superstore. Best Buy. I met with Jason, the store manager at Memory Express today to follow up on the possible meeting with the owners. He will be contacting the owners to try to arrange a meeting. According to him, they would like to know how much the system would cost. They also have reservations regarding possible impacts that such a system might have on personalized services by sales representatives.

Meanwhile, the Director of IT at Safeway got back to me saying that they are currently working on a solution with similar functionality and are therefore not keen on discussing the idea with us.

3. The API will be tested to validate the accuracy. Site survey is now complete.

4. Understand customer workflow and purchase decision making process at each of the retail stores.

5. Reach out to a few product vendors and advertising agencies. The Branding and Advertising event on Feb 20th should help us in this effort. Thanks to Brad Wheeler of the UILO who informed us of the event.