Transaction services provider Worldline has unveiled Connected Kitchen, an electronic fridge magnet aimed at online food retailers that lets consumers add everyday products to their shopping list as they use them, by scanning the product’s barcode or through a speech recognition feature.

“It is a connected device, able to connect to our cloud services to help customers make their shopping list. In order to do so, the customer can use the embedded 2D barcode reader or record their voice,” R&D engineer Herault Colombe explained to NFC World+.

“There is no need for an application to interact with the device. It is equipped with buttons allowing it to trigger the barcode reading or voice recognition. The device is always on the fridge; the customer decides to eat a product, for example a pizza. They take it out of the fridge. As they know they want to buy another one for next week, they add it to their shopping list.

“So they push the button on the device and scan the product barcode. It sends the product reference to our cloud services and it is added to their shopping list. If they want to add a product that does not have a barcode, such as three tomatoes, they push the button and say ‘three tomatoes’.

“Once the customer has used the device, the product references are added to their shopping list that they can consult through the retailer’s mobile app or the retailer’s website later. The idea is for them to make it very easy. They can use the device with one hand.”

“The device communicates via WiFi with our cloud services through the customer’s home [router],” Colombe continued. “The main part of the treatment is done by our cloud services, such as the research of the right products from the EAN barcode or the recognised text and the connection to the retail cloud service.”