British supermarket Asda has partnered with wayfinding app GoodMaps to make it easier for the visually-impaired to navigate its stores.
Launching initially in Asda’s technology testbed store in Stevenage, GoodMaps has mapped the location and made it available within its app.
The app can pinpoint a user’s location in the store to within a metre and can help them navigate to where they want to go in a number of different ways, either through audio messages, enlarged visuals, or touch commands. Within the app customers can search for key landmarks within the store, for example, the bakery, the pharmacy or the toilets. Or, they can search via product type.
“We strive to be an inclusive business and that includes making it easier for all of our customers to carry out a shop in one of our stores. We hope that by working with GoodMaps we can understand how we can make the in-store experience better for our blind and partially sighted customers,” said Kane Stephenson, inclusion manager at Asda.
“Although the app has an obvious benefit to disabled shoppers, the usability of the app is not limited to those whom are blind or partially sighted only,” an Asda spokesperson added.
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