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I'll Tag. You Tag. aIsleTag.

Purpose

AisleTags is designed to keep your weekly grocery list as simple, organized and cost-effective as possible.

Solution

Let's be honest, grocery shopping is no one's favorite task to do or errand to run. It can take up valuable time when you just want to get home or have other things to do. Trying to find the best prices while shopping is even trickier; shoppers have to hop from store to store hoping that they might stumble upon a better deal.

 

AisleTags is here to help you get your shopping done as quickly and painlessly as possible. AisleTags keeps your items organized and keeps you focused on what items to look for at each store you visit. Time is money so why not save both? Use AisleTags to plan for and conquer the grocery store so that you can get back to planning for life's more important events.

Why Now?

No one wants to spend more on their groceries than they have to. Over 40% of shoppers go to one store or more to get everything they need. AisleTags is a virtual shopping assistant that organizes your list with the items you need at the stores you like most to give you the best price possible.

 

With smartphones becoming commonplace and every aspect of life become digitized, the shopping list should be no exception. You can quickly add to your list at any moment, making sure you don’t leave any easily forgettable item behind. Stay organized, stay stocked and save money all while using AisleTags. 

Audience

AisleTags' users are conscientious about making smart financial decisions. They enjoy a sense of visual organization. They are tech-savvy and understand the basics of working an app and a smartphone. They are also considerate people, often taking into account what others may want or need. They are adventurous and opportunistic, always looking to try new things and be guided on new journeys.

Demographic

AisleTags is catered mostly to middle-class families or individuals; those who do not worry about having money for groceries but are still conscientious about how their money is being spent. This would include a family income range from about $40,000 to $150,000 or more.

 AisleTag's main audience is women. In most households, women are more likely to do the grocery shopping than men are. The audience age range here spans from 18 to year-old college students shopping for themselves to 60-year-old women shopping for their families. The millennial age bracket from about 18 to 35 years old would be the best place to target both men and women as users since this is the most likely age where people will be living on their own or with roommates whom they may need to coordinate groceries with.

AisleTags would mainly be for people living in cities or suburban areas where grocery stores are more varied in the items they offer. These stores, however, would still be accessible by foot or transit so that multiple stores could be visited in a shopping period of an hour or less. Users would need to have a smartphone in order to use the app while out at the stores. 

Customer Personas

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Molly is a 21-year-old college student living in an off-campus apartment in a suburban area. Her life is on her devices; her laptop and phone. She follows a busy schedule and is always looking to save money when she can. Molly tries to eat healthily and likes to try out new recipes when she has the time.

Tina is a 40-year-old working mom of two kids. She often swings by the grocery store on her way home from work, yoga, or picking the kids up from school. Somehow she pays attention to local sales and tries to organize her family’s meals for the week before she goes shopping. Tina makes mental lists but is notorious for forgetting items every time she returns from a trip.

Total Addressable Market

The success of an app like AisleTag depends on two main factors: people shopping for groceries and the growth of more digital shopping trends. Since people need to buy food and groceries to eat, it does not seem there will be a decline in the need for grocery stores any time soon.

There are growing trends for the online grocery market. While the online grocery market is not the same as a grocery app, the two are closely linked. Thus, trends for the online marketplace can help predict the feasibility of a digital grocery app. While only about 10% of US consumers say that shop regularly for groceries online, the market is expanding. The online grocery market doubled to $26 billion from 2017 to 2018 and is expected to reach $70 billion by 2021.

These trends can be added to what we already know about shoppers in the US. Making shopping lists to stay organized is a trait that spans across all age demographics. About 69% of women and 52% of men said they made a list before going shopping according to the Food Marketing Institute. Making lists was a trend across generations; from the 69 and older crowd to the 18 to 35 age group.

Further, those who operate the app will need to be smartphone users, familiar with either the IOS or Android operating system. According to the Pew Research Center, 96% of American adults own a cellphone. Of that 96%, 81% own a smartphone. 

Seniors will be excluded from the initial addressable market given that only about 53% of seniors who own a phone own a smartphone, according to the Pew Research Center.

 

We will assume that the total addressable market will be adults with smartphones, aged about 18 to 60 who go grocery shopping regularly or weekly. This would amount to a total addressable market of about 133,000,00 people in the US. This is without considering the expected growth from online shopping. From this, we should expect to see the total addressable market grow by at least a few tens of thousands with each year the app is active and coinciding with the market trends.

Competition

There are some apps on the market today that offer similar features to AisleTags. Three of the top competitors are Basket, Grocery Pal, and List Ease. These apps have the ability to compare total grocery hauls between stores, compare prices between stores in the area, and share lists with family members or friends.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Relative Advantage

AisleTag would include some of these features as well but its main advantage is that it allows for a customizable shopping experience. These other applications either limit the number of stores a user can have or don’t limit to stores in the user's specific area. AisleTags intends to offer a sleek and simple design that can customize each visit based on the best prices for the items they need at the stores the user wants to visit. By dividing the shopping list between stores the user frequents, shoppers won't spend time wandering aimlessly around the grocery aisles. Instead, through quickly planning ahead, they will already know what they need to get at each store to save money. Thus, they will also be saving time, taking valuable minutes off of their grocery store trip. 

AisleTags is not designed to simply give users the lowest prices on their groceries, but to display their lists in an organized log that makes shopping cost-effective and time-efficient

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Basket

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Grocery Pal

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List Ease

Prototype

Below is a design mock-up of what the initial AisleTags app will look like for users. The prototype below shows three different function screens of the app.

How It Works

Once the app is open, users choose to either make or edit a list or beginning shopping immediately from the last saved list. To add items to a list, users can search for their desired item or scan an item's barcode. Once detected, the item will appear on the search screen showing the lowest prices from stores in the user's area that they have designated in their settings. Users can then add the item to their list at their desired price point. The item will then appear in a divided shopping list. When users initiate the active shopping mode, they can check items off from their list. The box next to the item turns green once a user has checked an item off of their list. Each list can be saved, edited or added to for future shops.

Price data for the app will come prices published online from stores and from users reporting price"tags" in their area. The upgraded version of the app will hopefully be able to offer users protection so that their credit or debit card data can be synced to the app; keeping a record of what items appear most on their receipts and their price fluctuations.  

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AisleTags introduction or home screen

Item Search Display

Divided Shopping Checklist Display.

Business Model

In order to get AisleTags up and running for its first year of business, there needs to be a business model. Below is a cash flow table of AisleTags' expenses and revenue for its first year as well as a narrative further detailing each charge. 

 

 

Cash Flow Table

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Business Narrative

For my app AisleTags, I will use the 100,000 Herndon bucks to fund the bulk of my initial revenue. I plan to raise an additional $40,000 from crowdfunding on sites like Indiegogo and Kickstarter to add additional cash into the startup. The app also plans to offer in-app purchases, like an upgraded version of the app that will cache users' information and allow them to create further customized and data protected plans, creating a more personalized app experience. This upgrade will be a one time purchase of $1.99. If 25,000 people download the app and half take the upgrade, this will add another $25,000 back into the company’s cash flow. This would give AisleTags roughly $165,000 to make it through the first year of business and development.

 

The bulk of my expenses will come from my initial app development. Creating a full, decently designed app that will hook up to a website will cost around $46,000 according to estimates on howmuchtomakeanapp.com. An additional $6,500 will be used to create a companion website to go along with the app. This will serve as a platform for people to learn more about the app on its initial run and as an additional app feature to remotely log in to and for users to view their histories. The initial website design for a small informational business website will cost around $5,000. Then an additional $1,500 will be spent on annual website maintenance based on numbers from webfx.com. 

 

The cost for technology hosting for the app includes things like access to servers where the app will be hosted and data storage for data that is collected throughout the use of the app. These costs will surmount to around $16,000 for the year. 

 

To spread awareness about the app, we will embark on a social media Instagram campaign for one year. Given that we envision the majority of our users within our target demographic to be frequent Instagram users, Instagram will be the best platform for our campaign to live. At about $1,000 a month for social media marketing, we will actively run the campaign every two months for a year. On the same schedule, we will also post ads and run advertising on the app at about $500 a month. This will amount to around $10,000 in costs for the year. This is according to numbers from webfx.com on social media pricing.

 

The startup will also pay to be incorporated as an LLC in Georgia and pay a license fee of $100. We will also pay a lawyer to handle legal claims and licenses for the year. We will meet quarterly for one hour at $600 an hour for advising. Additionally, we will meet quarterly with an accountant for 90 mins at $600 per session. These legal and accounting fees come out to around $5,000 for the year. 

 

The last expense of the plan is for personal and worker wages. This was the most difficult part of the expense plan. It is likely that as the owner, I will likely have to work an additional job and partake in the app development on the side. I will also channel additional funds from my other jobs back into the cash flow. I plan to hire at least one worker to work part-time maintaining the app and fielding tech issues or user complaints. This person may become a business partner in the company. I’ve set aside $30,000 to pay this person during the first year. 

 

These expenses and revenue would leave me with around $26,500 for me to have leftover moving into the second year of my business. This is not a whole lot but hopefully, the company would be successful enough to have a second round of angel investors come in and refund the bulk of the company’s revenue.

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References

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