Notes

1. Motivation and background information
1.1. Motivation
In recent years, the use of mobile applications has penetrated to our daily lives deeply as we rely on them for several different purposes in our smartphones. To name a few, for communications, we use messaging applications including WhatsApp, Skype and WeChat. For entertainments, we also have media applications such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and 9GAG, and mobile games like Angry Birds, Temple Run and Candy Crush. While for transactions, we get many mobile banking systems offered from banks such as HSBC Mobile Banking and Hang Seng Mobile Application. From these well-known examples, it is undeniable that developing mobile applications is now a current tread in the market. In the old days, we can only check for the details of the product from websites, but in contrast, due to the high portability of mobile devices, we can now use mobile applications to locate useful and updated information at anytime and anywhere. Consequently, owing to the high potentials of mobile application in the market, I would like to develop a mobile application which aims to improve people’s quality of living for my final year project.
1.2. Background information
There are some existing websites for consumers to browse and search for the information about the products available in stores, yet they are not detailed enough.

Take an example from the website of PARKnSHOP (URL: http://www.parknshop.com/), a supermarket from Hong Kong, the users can only use it find out the item’s brand name, product name, weight and price from the webpage. In fact, when the consumers are making decision on which products to buy, they would also consider many other types of factors, such as nutrition values, ingredients, origins and comments from the public. However, these products’ information can only be found on the nutrition facts or from the discussion forums but not on the website. Therefore, if there is a mobile application to locate these product information at anytime and anywhere, it would be more convenient for the consumers and the consumers can make quick choices.

Moreover, from the website of Self Nutrition Data (URL: http://nutritiondata.self.com/), we are able to find out the nutrient values of the food.

2. Problem statement, project objectives and scope
2.1. Problem statement
Once we walk into the supermarkets or stores to shop for goods, we may encounter some common problems which are quite time-consuming to solve.
For example, when we want to buy a product without any known brands on the shelves, we may feel confused about which brands of products to buy as there are too many choices available. As a result, we may need to compare each brand of products one by one before we pay. However, time is money for most of the Hong Kong citizens. We have many other more important things to do, and thus, we have limited time for consideration.
On the other hand, people who demand for special requirements on their meals, especially those who are dieting or suffering from food allergies, need to spend extra time in reading and analyzing nutrition values, origins or ingredients from the labels on the products. While they are making comparisons, it requires much of their memorizations and time to remember those information printed on products.
Furthermore, owing to the selling price differences between products in different shops, some consumers would like to compare prices in different locations to obtain the most economical purchase in order to save money. Especially for those housewives, they are willing to walk around the nearby stores to search for products with lower prices. As a matter of fact, even though they can save money from this way, the whole process is not economical in terms of time cost.

2.2. Project objectives
To shorten the time for consumers to make decision on which products to buy
To compare and contrast on the products available -
To help the people plan their diets -
To assist the people who are suffering on food allergies to identify the products that contains allergens -
To help users to save money -


2.3. Project scope
Collect items’ information through crowdsourcing - The users can submit the detailed product information in the application which will then be stored in the database of the server-side computer. The information includes brand name, product name, nutrition information (energy values of carbohydrates, proteins, sugars, total fat, cholesterols, etc.), ingredients, origins and volume or weight. They can also upload photos for the products so that it would be easier for the viewers to identify the specific items.

Browse the detailed information of items - The system can display the available items submitted by the users either all at the once or according to their categories and subcategories. When the users select a specific item, its item information, including brand name, product name, nutrition information, ingredients, origins and volume or weight, will be displayed.

Comment, like and share items to relatives and friends - What the users can also provide for each item are their comments and likes. With regards to comments and likes of the specific item, the users can find out whether the item is worth buying or not. Also, the system will utilize the social plugin from Facebook, so that the products can be shared to the social network and help to spread over the entire community.

Search for the available items - The users can perform simple searching or advanced searching on the items stored in the system by inputting the brand name, product name, ingredients (included and excluded in the product), origins, volume or weight. The search result page will display the matched items according to users’ searching preferences.
Help to identify differences between selected products - The system provides the function of ‘My Favourite’ to the users so that the users can temporarily bookmark the items. They can choose to compare and contrast for the selected products’ prices, nutrient values, ingredients, origins and volume or weight. From this, the users do not have to spend extra time in identifying the differences and memorizing the products’ information when considering which items to purchase.

Provide updated products’ prices and location - The users of the system can update the prices of the products to our system which can be supplemented with the geographic location of the places they are located in.
Display system’s popular products - The system can analyze the number of likes that are given to each product. The most popular products will be displayed in the home page of the application to give product recommendation for the viewers.

3. Major technical components
For the hardware components, the system would require both client-side and server-side development. Therefore, a server-side computer is needed to store the database of the system, while another client-side computer can be used to support system development.
For the software components, owing to the use of the cross-platform framework, PhoneGap and Ionic, both of the Android and iOS users can enjoy the services provided from the application. The system do not require extra time in implementation in both Android and iOS systems. However, we have to use operating systems, Windows and iOS, to compile the code to produce different versions of applications.