Five school friends, including two Stellenbosch University alumni, have released an app that shows shoppers how densely crowded some of their local major retailers are.
The crowd app works in all major South African cities. Blue dots indicate relatively empty stores, whereas red dots indicate busy stores. PHOTO: Instagram/ The Crowd App
Although the Crowd app was released during June, it has been in the making since 2018, said Fergus Strangways-Dixon, one of the app developers.
“The purpose of the app is to save the users time. Saving time and social distancing go hand in hand,” said Strangways-Dixon.
Users can search for their favourite stores and compare nearby alternatives if those stores are too busy, according to Strangways-Dixon.
“The app informs the user how busy a store is currently, and how busy it is likely to be in an hour’s time,” he said.
A screen recording showing density heat maps of major retailers in the Stellenbosch area, on the Crowd app. Areas highlighted in red were almost filled to capacity at the time. RECORDING: Kirthana Pillay
The app functions in all major South African cities by using different open-source data sets to track in-store crowd density, according to Strangways-Dixon. Major retailers that the Crowd app operates in include Checkers, Pick n Pay and Clicks.
“We are always looking for ways to enhance our customers’ shopping experience, so [we] welcome an app that will allow customers to plan their trip ahead of time for safe shopping,” said Sedick Arendse, Clicks chief store operations officer.
Positive feedback
The Crowd team consists of four other members, including Jesse Mark, Shannon Mark and Stellenbosch alumni Craig Nicol and Adam Crawley.
The response from the public has been extremely positive, said Crawley, the head of marketing and public relations for the Crowd app.
“When creating this app we had the community as a whole in mind, and it is heartwarming to see individuals responding with messages of gratitude over the last few weeks,” said Crawley.
Approximately 1 000 people have downloaded the app, according to Crawley.
A user of the Crowd app finds unpopulated retail stores in her area. PHOTO: Kirthana Pillay
The app is very user-friendly and uncomplicated, according to Alex Gartner, a user of Crowd.
“Although I am fully aware that I still need to be careful and cautious [due to Covid-19], using the Crowd app has given me an extra sense of security and safety when it comes to shopping,” he said.