I have a cool phone. I know I don’t access all of its potential. But I recently discovered an app that makes sense to me. My local grocery store started running little ads in their circulars for their shopping list app. At first I groaned and thought, “Just what I need. One more electronic list.” But being curious, I decided to investigate it.

It took some figuring out, but I did manage to download it to my phone. Then I was able to view their weekly circular, pick out items I’d like to purchase, and create a shopping list, complete with pictures and prices, and sorted by department. In addition, I can add items that are not in the circular, and choose the department to add them to, so that they are sorted along with everything else.

While I shop, I can check items off the list, and they go to a holding list where I can review what I have checked off if I need to. Once my shopping trip is done, I can delete the entire list, or just the items that I checked off, thus saving the things I didn’t purchase for the next trip.

In addition, there is a coupon function that adds certain coupons on my store card, so if I purchase the item, the coupon is deducted even though I don’t have a paper copy. Way cool for those of us who clip coupons then forget to bring them to the store. You can also email the list to someone else to do the shopping, although the app doesn’t guarantee that they will follow through.

All of this is pretty cool, but the best part for the store is that it helps develop store loyalty. They provided an app that links to their circular, organizes the list based on their store layouts, and provides coupons to use at their store. I would shop there anyway, but for those techies who might have been on the fence, this could help them decide to drive to ShopRite instead of a competitor. After all, the list is done and there are coupons. Great use of on-line technology to market a bricks and mortar store.