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Show HN: InStock – like Waze, but for grocery availability

whatsinstock.app

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Re: Show HN: InStock – like Waze, but for grocery availability

#61

Post by gyanchawdhary »

This is kind of similar to Milo.com which was acquired by eBay in 2010. It was a real-time inventory monitoring/tracking service for local shopping - Shops had to install a plugin for their QuickBooks application, which would automatically update store inventory to Milo. It had a search engine front end which allowed users to find items nearby -- https://techcrunch.com/2010/12/02/confirmed-ebay-acquires-mi... and https://techcrunch.com/2011/06/15/milo-fetch-allows-local-re...

OP should def contact the founder of Milo (whose now a VC) for ideas on scaling, monetization, features etc

Re: Show HN: InStock – like Waze, but for grocery availability

#62

Post by prophesi »

_bxg1 wrote: post #28

Of course it requires a critical mass of people reporting before it becomes widely useful, and thinking cynically, I could see people "InStock-bombing" their local store - saying it's out of everything - in hopes of driving people away and keeping it for themselves. But if you've solved both of those problems and/or found them not to be problems, I think this could be really helpful Edit: Also, I just tried to search…

I think it's safe to assume that the majority of users are good actors. With that in mind, the two main attacks that these sorts of crowdsourcing apps need to figure counterattacks for are:

1. Minimizing the damage an individual can do. This is usually pretty easy to solve. InStock has the issue that a unique item could be said to be out of stock, and not have any other users report otherwise for a while.

2. Minimizing the damage that a coordinated group effort can do. This can be difficult to solve. The attackers will likely succeed for a while; you'd need a system in place to detect anomalies (or at worst, rely on users to report the issue) and a weighted scoring system (20 brand new users shouldn't sway what an active 6 month account says, etc).

I've yet to see TP come back in stock at my local grocer during my trips, so I hope this project succeeds.

Re: Show HN: InStock – like Waze, but for grocery availability

#65

Post by lucasverra »

kmdupree wrote: post #5
mmm_grayons wrote: post #4

Would you be able to offer a web version? There are a lot of us who don't have iphones, and that might provide a simpler cross-platform alternative.

Thanks for the feedback! I hear you on this. I actually am an Android guy myself. Android is on it's way, and we've talked about adding a web version too. it's a bit tricky since we have some feature ideas we have could be tough to implement via a web app.

Just out of curiosity, what does web lack that you need for your app ?

Re: Show HN: InStock – like Waze, but for grocery availability

#68

Post by readme »

wyxuan wrote: post #9
OOvsuOO wrote: post #8

How the heck are you able to get this data? I called the local store (Fred Myer) and they say they don't know they wait until the truck arrives and then they see what they get.

Crowd sourced reporting

I am curious how you will deal with this problem: lets say I am at the store using InStock, and then someone takes the last package of chicken. So, I report there is no chicken. Another user approaches and also reports there is no chicken, so there must be no chicken! After we both leave, the stock boy comes and replenishes the chicken.

Re: Show HN: InStock – like Waze, but for grocery availability

#69

Post by readme »

andrewfromx wrote: post #35
arkanciscan wrote: post #29

Someone should make a website that does this. No reason for this to be a native app.

is that fair or stealing the idea? if everyone here agrees this is fair i'll do it but i'll need a domain name. how about whogotwh.at?

You should, and also improve on the strategy (see my pseudocode)

    if (item == "tp") {
        print("nope");
    } else if (item == "hand sanitizer") {
        print("nope");
    } else if (item == "chicken") {
        print("nope");
    } else {
        print("maybe");
    }

Re: Show HN: InStock – like Waze, but for grocery availability

#70

Post by tobr »

This needs crowdsourced data with extremely short shelf life (if you pardon the pun).

I don’t understand how this will ever work unless you find a more automatic way to get the data. Some ideas:

- Cooperate with the grocery store, and integrate with their existing inventory systems.

- Build the app around a smart shopping list. Automatically suggest the nearest store that is most likely to have everything on my list in stock. For any items I’ve added but didn’t check off after I left the store, report it automatically as not available, to build up the database.

- Something something AR?

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