Instead of focusing on multiple "real time" grocery lists, focus on figuring out what recipes someone often makes, what ingredients they have at home and do the hard work for them. That could be a winner.
I don't envision anyone doing their "meal planning" at the grocery store because they have to resolve the ingredient list with what they have at home.
But seriously, ditch the real time sharing stuff. I don't know why so many todo lists focus on that.
I venture because, while it's not simple, it's easy. Or, while it's not easy, it's simple. It feels like a real 'hard nut to crack' that people can get in to computationally, but I agree, it doesn't solve much (at least for shopping scenarios).
And yes, also agree - recipes, mixing with what you've got at home vs at the store - good idea. Additionally, just recipe suggestions based on scanning an item. If I scanned pears and salmon, having a mobile app suggest 5 other things to buy that would make a great <whatever> (I'm not a cook - I can't think of what I might cook with that) - that would help clueless people like me do 'real time recipe discovery' when I'm at the store. Thinking I'll do this somewhere else, build up a 'list', then share it or look it up when I'm near a store - for me, no dice.
Perhaps that's where grocery list apps all plan to go, but I'm not sure why they don't start on that end first. Or perhaps some have, and my discovery on this is so bad I've never found one.
EDIT: From TFA
"AnyList also sports a smart recipe system that culls ingredient lists from huge recipe depositories (think Allrecipes, Epicurious, and the like) to blogs "
Does it show you recipes based on something you scan though? That wasn't clear...
> But seriously, ditch the real time sharing stuff. I don't know why so many todo lists focus on that.
It's a common scenario for me and my wife to share a list and update it real-time as we traverse the store. We might split up and pick up different things, or I might be at the store while she's at home and remember something when I'm already out. Real-time sharing allows us to communicate accurately through the list.
What we don't do is any recipe management. We know what we make, we don't cook extravagant meals requiring more than 3 or 4 components, so we think about what we like, we pick it up, and we mix & match when we get home. E.g., we have chicken, pasta, ground beef, a variety of sauces, some miscellaneous vegetables and do different combinations depending on who's cooking and how the cook feels that day.
> It's a common scenario for me and my wife to share a list and update it real-time as we traverse the store.
Playing devil's advocate here but can you effectively be wandering the grocery store looking for item X at the same time as your wife is looking for item Y while she remembers that you should get Z instead of X and update the list in a manner which you'd be notified?
I can't imagine that's common enough to warrant a real time todo list app but the scenario I'm familiar with is different from yours so I might be wrong.
> Playing devil's advocate here but can you effectively be wandering the grocery store looking for item X at the same time as your wife is looking for item Y while she remembers that you should get Z instead of X and update the list in a manner which you'd be notified?
I can't imagine that's common enough to warrant a real time todo list app but the scenario I'm familiar with is different from yours so I might be wrong.
You have to ask, is SMS good enough?
SMS is definitely good enough, but it's a nice-to-have to keep everything on the same list. That way when we meet up again we can scan the list and know everything's there.
As for your scenario, yes, and it has happened. I'll be wandering the store, refresh the list and notice new things on the list. We currently use Cozi and while it isn't the best application ever it definitely gets the job done, and it's free.
> As for your scenario, yes, and it has happened. I'll be wandering the store, refresh the list and notice new things on the list. We currently use Cozi and while it isn't the best application ever it definitely gets the job done, and it's free.
I might actually have to try this out with my wife. We normally walk the isle together when we tag team the shopping. Pretty inefficient once I think about it.
AnyList co-founder here. We find that the ability to share a list is very popular with spouses, families, significant others, and roommates. When we thought about creating a great grocery shopping list, we took inspiration from the classic sheet of paper stuck to the family refrigerator with a magnet, where everyone writes down what needs to be purchased.
But doesn't any todo list app work for that use case? I haven't thought about this space as much as you have but knowing what my wife complains about leads me to say that there's much more value tackling the problem of making her life easier.
I give suggestions but there's very low value in making it easier for me to provide suggestions. Her side of the equation is where the real work is and it's where you can do a ton of optimizations and have a loyal user.
Making her trips to the grocery store easier > the incremental value she gets from my collaboration.
Enough of the suggestions though. You've thought about this more than I and my only data point is my wife. Congrats on the launch and I'll tell my wife about the app.
I used a grocery list app a while ago (I actually forget the name now) and the sharing feature was definitely useful for my wife and I. When one of us would run out of something, we'd add it to a shared list, so when we went grocery shopping the next time we'd remember.
Realtime sharing is particularly valuable for grocery shopping. It's not at all rare for me to pick something up on the way home while Erin is at Whole Foods buying stuff, or vice versa.
Gawd, I hope not. You should punch whoever said that in the throat.
But in relation to the scenario you mentioned of picking up an item on the way home while your partner was at Whole Foods, yes, a simple SMS saying "I'm picking up cheese, is that cool?" just works.
If what you meant by that scenario is that there are many people who co-habitate and frequently and simultaneously do grocery shopping at different stores, then I can't really comment on that.
>But seriously, ditch the real time sharing stuff. I don't know why so many todo lists focus on that.
I think what you're missing here is THE TRACTION. They have 10s of thousands of users already, and they are using the app, as explained in the article. I would imagine the team has enough analytics in there to know what features people are using, and talks to their customers to understand the analytics better.
What's the reason for your suggestion? What you envision? Or what people actually do with an app based on thousands of users? I would guess the Anylist guys use the latter.
I always take what founders (including myself) say about traction with a grain of salt.
I can only make suggestions based on my experiences and the problems I see. If they have data to prove otherwise then by all means discard my suggestions ... I don't take it personally :).
I'd like the app to check prices for me at a number of nearby stores so I can buy the stuff I always buy, but at the lowest prices. I've got about 3-4 stores that I visit pretty regularly, and I'm always trying to optimize on prices. Do that and I'll buy it (I'll get a smart phone too)!
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[ 2.6 ms ] story [ 63.9 ms ] threadI don't envision anyone doing their "meal planning" at the grocery store because they have to resolve the ingredient list with what they have at home.
But seriously, ditch the real time sharing stuff. I don't know why so many todo lists focus on that.
And yes, also agree - recipes, mixing with what you've got at home vs at the store - good idea. Additionally, just recipe suggestions based on scanning an item. If I scanned pears and salmon, having a mobile app suggest 5 other things to buy that would make a great <whatever> (I'm not a cook - I can't think of what I might cook with that) - that would help clueless people like me do 'real time recipe discovery' when I'm at the store. Thinking I'll do this somewhere else, build up a 'list', then share it or look it up when I'm near a store - for me, no dice.
Perhaps that's where grocery list apps all plan to go, but I'm not sure why they don't start on that end first. Or perhaps some have, and my discovery on this is so bad I've never found one.
EDIT: From TFA
"AnyList also sports a smart recipe system that culls ingredient lists from huge recipe depositories (think Allrecipes, Epicurious, and the like) to blogs "
Does it show you recipes based on something you scan though? That wasn't clear...
Me neither.
> Does it show you recipes based on something you scan though? That wasn't clear...
My guess is no else that'd be highlighted. But start there, not at the "list".
It's a common scenario for me and my wife to share a list and update it real-time as we traverse the store. We might split up and pick up different things, or I might be at the store while she's at home and remember something when I'm already out. Real-time sharing allows us to communicate accurately through the list.
What we don't do is any recipe management. We know what we make, we don't cook extravagant meals requiring more than 3 or 4 components, so we think about what we like, we pick it up, and we mix & match when we get home. E.g., we have chicken, pasta, ground beef, a variety of sauces, some miscellaneous vegetables and do different combinations depending on who's cooking and how the cook feels that day.
Playing devil's advocate here but can you effectively be wandering the grocery store looking for item X at the same time as your wife is looking for item Y while she remembers that you should get Z instead of X and update the list in a manner which you'd be notified?
I can't imagine that's common enough to warrant a real time todo list app but the scenario I'm familiar with is different from yours so I might be wrong.
You have to ask, is SMS good enough?
> What we don't do is any recipe management.
Valid point.
I can't imagine that's common enough to warrant a real time todo list app but the scenario I'm familiar with is different from yours so I might be wrong.
You have to ask, is SMS good enough?
SMS is definitely good enough, but it's a nice-to-have to keep everything on the same list. That way when we meet up again we can scan the list and know everything's there.
As for your scenario, yes, and it has happened. I'll be wandering the store, refresh the list and notice new things on the list. We currently use Cozi and while it isn't the best application ever it definitely gets the job done, and it's free.
I might actually have to try this out with my wife. We normally walk the isle together when we tag team the shopping. Pretty inefficient once I think about it.
Because it gives bleeding-edgers something to cultivate nodejs/etc. presence on their resumes.
I give suggestions but there's very low value in making it easier for me to provide suggestions. Her side of the equation is where the real work is and it's where you can do a ton of optimizations and have a loyal user.
Making her trips to the grocery store easier > the incremental value she gets from my collaboration.
Enough of the suggestions though. You've thought about this more than I and my only data point is my wife. Congrats on the launch and I'll tell my wife about the app.
That's valuable info.
My guess is that it is and I have anecdotal evidence to support it! :)
But in relation to the scenario you mentioned of picking up an item on the way home while your partner was at Whole Foods, yes, a simple SMS saying "I'm picking up cheese, is that cool?" just works.
If what you meant by that scenario is that there are many people who co-habitate and frequently and simultaneously do grocery shopping at different stores, then I can't really comment on that.
I think what you're missing here is THE TRACTION. They have 10s of thousands of users already, and they are using the app, as explained in the article. I would imagine the team has enough analytics in there to know what features people are using, and talks to their customers to understand the analytics better.
What's the reason for your suggestion? What you envision? Or what people actually do with an app based on thousands of users? I would guess the Anylist guys use the latter.
I can only make suggestions based on my experiences and the problems I see. If they have data to prove otherwise then by all means discard my suggestions ... I don't take it personally :).