Asda debuts iPhone app

Wednesday, November 23, 2011 - 13:34 by Simon Crisp

The first iPhone m-commerce app from British supermarket chain, Asda, has been announced this week, with promises of delivering real time price comparison while you are on the move.

As well as comparing the price of products against its rivals like Tesco and Sainsbury's, the Asda app lets customers buy their groceries via safe shopping online and even make amendments to their lists after they have placed an order on their PC.

Other features of the iPhone are harnessed, including its camera, which can be used to scan barcodes and pull up the prices for the relevant product in a few seconds.

Perhaps the best thing about the app is that it allows customers to tally up the total cost of their weekly shop and match it against Asda and the other high street supermarket chains. If you could buy your typical basket for less anywhere else, Asda will refund you the difference, plus an additional penny as a gesture of good will.

Of course since Asda has won the award for being the UK's cheapest supermarket for over a decade, it may be unlikely that you will ever find your groceries cheaper from other companies offering safe shopping online.

Further facets of the m-commerce app are a convenient store locator, used to direct you to the nearest Asda based on your location, along with information on how to get in touch.

Spokesperson, Kate Cuthbertson, said that 60 per cent of people who browse Asda's mobile website do so from their Apple iPhones, which made it easy for the firm to determine which platform it should target with its first ever m-commerce application.

Cuthbertson also alluded to new developments planned for Asda in the mobile arena next year, so other smartphone users on Android or Windows Phones could be getting a dedicated app as well.