Asda app to make stores more accessible to the blind

British supermarket chain Asda is trialling a new app in Stevenage, hoping to make it easier for blind and visually impaired customers to find their way around the store.

GoodMaps

Since 3 December, the Asda store in Stevenage has been the first to integrate the GoodMaps app in the United Kingdom. The app can pinpoint the user’s location within a metre of accuracy and provides directions to an area or object using voice technology, enlarged visual elements and touch commands. Customers can thus find important reference points in the store, such as a particular aisle, a specific product or the cash registers. And although the app was developed specifically for blind and visually impaired people, it can also be used by people without impairments.

“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”, says Inclusion Manager Kane Stephenson.