Wednesday 30 December 2009

Tesco Finder - The Top 100 Searched Products

I'm a big fancier of statistics, me, so I thought I'd treat you to the most popular search for products from our Tesco Finder app for iPhone/iPod Touch!
All search requests are entirely anonymous and we throw away the server logs after 24 hours, but the database keeps a note of the actual search text, the date/time of the request, the Tesco store whose range was being searched, the time it took to process the request, and the number of products that were returned - all so I can keep a check on quality assurance.
There's been nearly a quarter of a million searches since we launched the app a few weeks ago, so there's a nice build of stats to reveal all.
Firstly, the top 100 most searched for products:

Rank

Product

Count

1

milk

5955

2

bread

4474

3

beans

2477

4

cheese

2464

5

eggs

2148

6

condoms

1870

7

beer

1483

8

coke

1481

9

DVD

1474

10

baked beans

1345

11

durex

1264

12

wine

1108

13

coffee

1037

14

sugar

1014

15

marmite

941

16

apples

889

17

tv tesco

836

18

iPod

829

19

chicken

780

20

pizza

764

21

crisps

724

22

vodka

673

23

tea

671

24

chocolate

652

25

(null)

638

26

Stella

634

27

apple

628

28

ps3

624

29

bananas

617

30

rice

602

31

xbox

600

32

bacon

597

33

cornflakes

597

34

wii

590

35

call of duty

589

36

condom

584

37

pasta

574

38

butter

552

39

jam

545

40

iPhone

522

41

fosters

490

42

soup

489

43

ketchup

485

44

onions

485

45

carrots

484

46

toothpaste

472

47

nappies

464

48

pringles

455

49

television

444

50

chips

417

51

laptop

403

52

fish

397

53

coca cola

392

54

weetabix

377

55

pepsi

371

56

lager

370

57

champagne

368

58

tampax

365

59

cake

357

60

salt

352

61

ham

351

62

banana

348

63

cat food

346

64

turkey

339

65

jack daniels

335

66

toilet roll

332

67

cider

330

68

shampoo

325

69

dog food

321

70

lynx

320

71

baileys

318

72

peas

312

73

olives

301

74

toys

297

75

tuna

296

76

coconut milk

295

77

sausages

295

78

potatoes

294

79

cereal

289

80

cd tesco

287

81

games

287

82

water

282

83

flour

282

84

pampers

281

85

cola

275

86

whisky

273

87

walkers

263

88

quorn

261

89

beef

258

90

egg

253

91

salmon

252

92

custard

251

93

Christmas

249

94

popcorn

248

95

ice cream

247

96

marmots

247

97

sony

246

98

biscuits

245

99

playstation

245

100

futex

241

Interesting commentary here: you'll note that amongst the more standard products are 'condoms', 'condom', 'durex' and the iPhone auto-corrected version of durex (unless you override it): 'futex'. Add up these entries and the count rises to 3,959 which would rank at position 3!

Hmmm! Filter out the time-of-day to between 9pm and 2am, and the combination of 'condomic' words easily hits the number one spot. Now I'm no social commentator but do you agree that this evidence points to a certain sub-group of iPhone user who may well be showing off the app to his mates - in the pub - than genuinely trying to find anything in their local Tesco?...

The most popular search hour:

Rank

Hour starting

Count

1

21:00

18508

2

22:00

17964

3

20:00

17777

4

19:00

17241

5

18:00

16211

6

17:00

14644

7

14:00

14177

8

13:00

14027

9

23:00

13591

10

15:00

13336

11

16:00

13212

12

12:00

12069

13

11:00

10861

14

10:00

10346

15

9:00

9377

16

0:00

8004

17

8:00

7044

18

7:00

4768

19

1:00

4142

20

2:00

2205

21

6:00

1784

22

3:00

1349

23

5:00

1302

24

4:00

1042

This is less of a surprise - the most searches are being conducted in the evening; again only my own thoughts but I think people are heading home from work and want to get in and out of Tesco quickly. The searches get more frequent as the evening progresses and I'm guessing Tesco Finder users are tired and just want to find the products they need quickly. It's interesting to note that people were searching happily for products right through the night!

Finally searches by day of week:

Rank

Day

Count

1

Sunday

40147

2

Saturday

39287

3

Friday

34754

4

Monday

34316

5

Tuesday

33226

6

Wednesday

31829

7

Thursday

31422

This is fairly consistent use throughout the week, although it's interesting to note that the most searches are being conducted during the restricted trading hours on a Sunday.

I'll be passing the full log to the insight team who, I'm sure, will come up with even more interesting information such as the patterns of product searching that vary by time, and searching for products by store. For example, if a particular store has more searches for a particular product than the 'norm', does that mean that the product concerned is more difficult to find than we thought?

Whatever the analysis, it's nice to think that Tesco Finder may well help to improve the ability for customers to find products in our stores.

13 comments:

  1. It would be great if I could share my shopping list with another iPhone user so either me or my wife could add to it and either one of us could then have it with us on the move to do the shopping on the way home

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nick - funny to see Mr. Null making it to #25. What is that all about ? Are customers just hitting return key? You can save a server round trip with some javascript there

    ReplyDelete
  3. +1 for Sam's idea. Having a realtime 'house' shopping list would be completely brilliant.

    ReplyDelete
  4. No problem - we are on the case with a shared shopping list.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Just to say I love the app. Useful in store too - was shopping at the weekend and remembered something that wasn't on my shopping list and used the app to find it. No disrespect to the staff but faster than finding someone and asking them and hoping they know that section!

    Would be even better if you could scan items at home so that they go into your shopping list.

    Keep up the good work! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  6. great application !!! is it possible to copy the shopping list from your clubcard favourites list within the tesco online shopping?

    ReplyDelete
  7. love the app. would be nice to create a list without having find each item first then do a bulk find a bit like the website. the other minor grumble is the stores are not always laid out as the app suggests, the great dunmow store for instance bread isnt in aisle 3, other than this great app. to be able to shop online and get home delivery would be another cool add on :) dont want much

    ReplyDelete
  8. Love the app. It's helped me find things that even the staff couldn't find when our local store in Corstorphine has been recently revamped. Things like cocktail sticks which they are no longer allowed to keep near the booze with the new licensing laws! I've even helped other customers find stuff

    One thing I dont like is the saved shopping lists are linked to a single store. I shop at many Tesco stores near work and home (which may be unusual, but Edinburgh has lots of them). If I call into another store my list should update. If an item isnt available, then a search should show alternatives that are in stock. I'd also like it to show me stock for nearby stores if something is not on the shelf. It took me 4 stores in November to find Celeriac for an amazing Nigel Slater pork dish with Celeriac mash.

    And one other thing that perhaps the stores could do for their loyal customers who may be using the app - how about some free wifi? Even if the password was changed regularly, the apps or the Tesco website could list the one available for the local store or it could be displayed at customer services. Wifi availability would make searches so much faster as a few stores are in mobile black holes and dont seem to have 3g coverage

    ReplyDelete
  9. I have to agree with Tim. Coverage especially in the larger Tesco stores is terrible. Unable to make voice calls never mind 3G!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I think phone network coverage is extremely important for supermarkets. I also shop occasionally in an Asda which is my nearest large supermarket. I do however try to avoid shopping there as I get no vodafone coverage. There are so many times I want to phone home if they don't have an item or I see a good offer and it's incredibly frustrating to get no signal. Femto or pico cells for the main networks would also be a great addition to stores with coverage issues. I'm sure there is a fast network connection in place already that could be utilised

    ReplyDelete
  11. Great app! A couple of suggestions which you've probably had a dozen times...

    If you do a product search then "Add to Shopping List" then press "Product Search" again you get the previous results redisplayed and have to scroll to the top to do the next search. Perhaps "Back" could take you back to the previous results and "Product Search" could clear the list and take you straight to the text box?

    If you only have one list could it just add the product rather than asking which list you want to add to when you only have one to pick from anyway?

    Finally, any plans to add the shopping list facility to the web site so I can create my shopping list (the same as for home delivery) and then print it out (sorted by aisle) - or even better transfer it to my iPhone?

    ReplyDelete
  12. I'd agree with Ken - the navigation needs some work

    I'd suggest a persistent search field at the top of the screen with results displayed below. Each result should have a + button it which adds directly to a list or you click generally on the result to get more details / location etc.

    This means from any of the shopping screens you can start a new search

    I'd also allow the user to set their current shopping list rather than asking each time. That way you can change lists but it cuts out the extra stage. Perhaps a press and hold on the + button brings up a list selection if you see something you don't immediately need but want to send to another list

    Two sets of favourites should also be defined. One set should be user added favourites (i.e. all the common kitchen items you might want such as milk, juice etc.) so you can scroll down and click the + button on each at the start of your list creation (its a handy reminder too)

    The second list should be maintained internally and contain anything you have previously bought. This should be used to bias the search results by displaying these items first. This allows brand loyalty. I.e. if I search for non-bio washing powder, it should display Persil first as that's what I tend to buy. Next in the search results should be any offers for comparison as that might tempt me away from default brands

    ReplyDelete
  13. I like Tim's idea of the search box always being present - is there enough space on the screen?

    Of course if you could build the shopping list on Tesco.com using all the great searching options that already exist there and then download the results to the iPhone the app's UI would be less important - but still a nice improvement.

    Another suggestion... When shopping it would be helpful if items you've bought (and ticked) moved to the end of the list so that the one at the top is always the next product you need to buy (based on the aisle/location) - it would save scrolling

    ReplyDelete

As this blog grows in readership - and because it carries the Tesco brand - I have had to become more careful about the sort of comments that are acceptable. The good news is that I'm a champion of free speech so please be as praising or as critical as you wish! The only comments I DON'T allow through are:

1. Comments which criticise an individual other than myself, or are critical of an organisation other than Tesco. This is simply because they cannot defend themselves so is unfair and possibly libellous. Comments about some aspect of Tesco being better/worse than another equivalent organisation are allowed as long as you start by saying "in my personal opinion.." or "I think that...". ... followed by a "...because.." and some reasoned argument.

2. Comments which are totally unrelated to the context of the original article. If I have written about a mobile app and you start complaining about the price of potatoes then your comment isn't going stay for long!

3. Advertising / web links / spam.

4. Insulting / obscene messages.


Ok, rules done - now it's your go: