MyVee

A phone app made to revolutionize a customer's shopping experience, and make it as effortless as possible.

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Inspiration

The inspiration for this app came from everything we thought was a minor nuisance in the shopping industry. Whether that be lack of assistance, long lines, or a general lack of information. We really worked to tackle some of the smaller, less recognizable issues, that still have a large impact on a shopper's overall experience.

What it does

Currently, the app is capable of relaying important news information about the store, such as big sales going on or coming up, as well as fun news such as employee of the month. It has several additional tabs, including a shopping list with suggestions, a sale catalog, and a page for store info. Not all of the sections are fully functional, however we did put a lot of thought into how we can improve this app, given more time.

How we built it

We built MyVee using an html skeleton, with JavaScript functionality, and CSS styling. We split the work up based on which pages we thought we were more suited to create. We spent the first few hours or so planning the main ideas of our app and identifying key issues and absences of key features in current store apps. We then designed each page by hand and organized our timeline. We then spent the rest of the first day and night learning web technologies through codeacademy and w3schools. When we returned to work on the second day, we began the actual coding of the website.

Challenges we ran into

We had little to no experience in programming prior to this event, which presented us with our biggest challenge. We had to spend many hours learning several web languages and figuring out how to do some of the more advanced techniques. We also had a problem initially deciding how we were going to go about creating this app. We originally thought to use Microsoft Visual Studio, but we were then recommended phonegap by a friend. While attempting to use phonegap, we couldn't find how to even start a project. After an hour or two of being unable to use it, we decided to try Android Studio. After spending time downloading and looking through the application, we decided that this software was a bit too complex for us to tackle as beginners, which left us looking back to phonegap. Although it was tough, we finally found out how to get it working, which was one of the most satisfying experiences of the weekend. Another large time consumer this weekend, was our failure to recognize simple syntax errors.We spent nearly an hour on some issues trying to find to problem, only to realize that we forgot a closing tag or a semicolon. Although these were frustrating, they helped us grow as programmers and as critical thinkers in general.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud of what we accomplished this weekend, in building our first app. The main parts we are proud of are the Grocery List page, because of its functionality and complexity, as well as the sliding vertical menu, as that was one of the toughest aspects to figure out. Most of all, we are proud that we stuck it through, after all the challenges and failures, we kept pushing until we had a product.

What we learned

Although this is generally a given for a hackathon, we learned all of the basics for several coding languages, including JavaScript, CSS, and html, as well as some of the more advanced techniques. We also learned how to work together as a team, ask others for help, get through tough situations, critically think, and problem solve. Additionally, we also learned a lot about ourselves, like what languages we like, what kinds of problems we like to tackle, and that if we have the initiative, we have the capability to do great things.

What's next for MyVee

We had so many plans for our app that we unfortunately did not get to carry out due to limited time. We were looking to add a map that shows all of the stores sections, as well as the locations of individuals items. This map would allow the user to generate the fastest possible route to collect the items on their shopping lists. It would also feature locators for the employee, with a color code that shows whether they are currently busy helping someone, or free to assist you. One great thing about this is that it would have the option to ping to nearest available employee to come to your location to assist you. We also wanted to add a section that displayed how the checkout traffic was, so users could decide when to go to the store, as well as when to check out. We also wanted to add another aspect to you grocery shopping list, which allows the user to budget their spending, recommending substitutes for certain items, or if needed, which items to remove in order to stay under budget. Some smaller changes to the list include, the option to remove items, and have a single bar code ready to scan from your phone at checkout. Another tab we wanted to add was for the Restaurants and Bakery within the store. This would be useful for someone who would like to order something on their phone while they shop, and pick it up on the way out. They can check how long the wait time is for preparing the item. Similarly, we wanted to add a section for the Pharmacy department, which would allow users to request refills, and view time remaining before they can pick it up. The final option we wanted to add was a place for customers to leave comments, concerns, or complaints about the store, staff, or even the phone app so that their experience can always be improved upon.

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