Show HN: InStock – like Waze, but for grocery availability
whatsinstock.app
whatsinstock.app
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 for it on the App Store by "InStock" (what it's called on the website), and it didn't come up. Then I searched for "whats in stock" and I think the one that came up (named "WhatsInStock") is this one, based on the screenshots. I think greater consistency would probably result in greater discoverability and trust.
Edit 2: I just opened it up and the nearby stores it found didn't include HEB, which is the most common grocer in my region (Texas), nor Whole Foods nor H-Mart. And while there isn't one close by, if it doesn't have HEB it probably doesn't have Central Market either. Just fyi.
Regarding the app store name, thanks for that feedback. We couldn't use InStock unfortunately since it was already taken, but we'll definitely think about this.
Regarding the store search results, we are using an api for this and this is quickly floating to the top of our backlog as something to work on for the next release. Thanks for the feedback on this as well, as it helps us prioritize the things that really matter to people. :)
Understandable; one solution would be to adopt the App Store name as the new "real name" and put it on your website, etc.
> Thanks for the feedback on this as well, as it helps us prioritize the things that really matter to people. :)
Sure thing! Best of luck.
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.
OP should def contact the founder of Milo (whose now a VC) for ideas on scaling, monetization, features etc
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.
If the app merely helps people get what they need and get home sooner (away from the virus) and doesn't cost us a fortune to maintain, then that's ok with us. If there's a business to build around the app, that'd be great too.
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?
But with many users, notifying other people will just make the store run out of stock sooner. So people will revert to texting their friends to let them know when something's in stock.
- track what users are searching for in an area (e.g. toilet paper)
- use GPS to determine who is at a store nearby that hasn't had that item updated recently
- prompt the user via notification with something like "Does [grocery store you're in] have toilet paper in stock?"
Admittedly it's not motivating anyone to answer, but it might help to keep data fresh.
Glad to see it has come to exist.
I'm a huge fan of crowdsourcing, but I'm having a hard time seeing how the math works out even remotely here. It's very, very different from Waze in this aspect.
With stores that have thousands of products, and the app is only useful based on it's accuracy for each individual product, you need many, many more people reporting because their reports are spread over so many products.
TBH, I don't think this idea is workable, mainly because for the most in-demand items where you want a service like this, the inventory changes by the minute. I mean, whole aisles of toilet paper can easily be cleared out in 10 minutes even when purchases are limited to one package per customer. It takes me 10 mins to drive to the nearest grocery store.
- Price comparison for the same item at different local stores - Localized demand estimation for brands - Referrals for items not available in the traditional distribution model (eg. Organic/Handmade goods)
They've enabled things like toilet paper and sanitizer in the app. It's been pretty good.
if (item == "tp") {
print("nope");
} else if (item == "hand sanitizer") {
print("nope");
} else if (item == "chicken") {
print("nope");
} else {
print("maybe");
}And we're happy that it exists. :) Hopefully, more people working on this will mean people spent less time exposed at grocery stores.
FWIW, we may pursue a web version of the app, but we do have some feature ideas that could be difficult to implement as a web app, so we'll have to see. :)
I think the best way to get this off the ground is to pick 1 community and really push it there, to try out how useful it can be. Then use that one as an example.
You're right that the functionality is limited right now. Allowing people to see more stores is one of the first things we want to work on next. :)
Requesting updates about particular stores is my favorite idea here. We had a similar one: requesting updates about a particular item. :)
but... during this time, even those systems are unreliable so i cant imagine this being of much use as of now.
you're exactly right to point out that the information isn't perfect, by the way. I was just at a store earlier doing some personal shopping and I noticed they had employees counting the items because their inventory system wasn't reliable.
That's just the normal way to do inventory, and has no real relationship to the reliability of the inventory system. There's no other way to account for inventory shrinkage (eg. theft, damage).
During the crisis, I don't see many people clicking "I Can Help", but it would be interesting if you could find a way to solve that. Gamification as others have said, might help, but not sure.
It would be interesting InstaCart shoppers, etc, could adopt this as a way to drive more business for themselves. If they're already out shopping and can identify high-demand items are in stock, a would-be buyer could procure it pretty quickly by starting an order with that Insta-shopper. I haven't thought through that, but it's an idea.
I could also see uploading, emailing InstaCart receipts. You could grep in-stock/out-ouf-stock information from those and timestamp it based on when the shopping was done.
I love the concept though.