Doing the weekly shop can sometimes be a very stressful task especially when I have to take the children along with me. So to make it less stressful I tend to do a weekly online shop and then possibly one top up shop in-store midweek. So when Waitrose got in touch last month to ask if I would like to trail their new Hiku device I was intrigued. I was told it would make doing my online shop easier. Could this little device make online shopping easier?
When the Hiku arrived the following week I was even more surprised at how small it was. Once the children were in bed that evening I set about setting up the Hiku following the easy to follow instructions I had been sent. The first step was to find the Hiku app on the Apple App Store and download it.
Then I turned the Hiku on and connected it to our home wi-fi network. The next step was to link the Hiku to my Waitrose.com account. This was really simple to do by logging in and clicking on “Register my Hiku device” which can be found under “My Shopping”. Then using the Hiku device I scanned the bar code that appeared on the screen while holding down the silver button on the Hiku and pressing the finish button on my online account. I knew the linking had been successful when the message “Congratulations, you have successfully registered your device” appeared.
I then had to ensure the Hiku device recognised my voice so again following the set up instructions I spoke into the Hiku, I simply said food items such as “milk”. Then I checked against the Hiku shopping list to see if it had registered what I had said correctly. I was really surprised the device picked up what I was saying correctly the first time. With the complete I was ready to start shopping!
The Hiku device has a magnetic back so you can stick it to your fridge or similar when not in use. I stuck it too our fridge freezer until I was ready to add to my shopping order. I then logged into my Waitrose.com account and booked my delivery slot for the following Saturday.
Over the next few days as I wanted to add to my shopping order I picked up the Hiku device and told it what I wanted to order. Each time having to wake the Hiku device up by pressing the silver button until the green light came on. I also tried scanning items to add them to my order that way. It was so easy to use which was great as I didn’t have to log into my account and add myself as I would usually do. I could simply pick up the Hiku device tell it what I wanted and then carry on with what I was doing.
Then on the Friday evening I logged back into my Waitrose.com account and selected “My Hiku Shopping list” My list told me that I had 65 items that were recognised and 3 where unrecognised. I was then shown a list of the items that were recognised which I could then select the ones I wanted from it. Then those items that weren’t recognised I was able to search again for. Once happy with the items I had selected I could add them directly to my shopping trolley. Then I reviewed the contents of my shopping trolley to ensure I was happy with it before checking out as usual. The following day my shopping was delivered like clockwork within the time slot I had chosen and with the correct items, I was impressed.
Using the Hiku device throughout the week to do my shopping was so straight forward and it did save me time. Having the Hiku to hand meant that as I spotted I was running low on a item I was able to add it to my shopping list easily and without trouble. The set up process for the Hiku device was straight forward to and took me now more than 15 minutes, including downloading the app to my mobile phone. So for me the Hiku device certainly made doing my online shopping much easier and I would happily use it again. Waitrose are currently in the final trail stages with the Hiku but Fingers crossed Waitrose will roll it out for its customers very soon as I’m sure others will find it as easy to use as I did. If you would like to find out more about the Hiku trail and Waitroses other new initatives you can do by visiting their Hot New Ideas page here.
Disclosure: I was sent a voucher to do an online shop for the purpose of this post along with a Hiku device to use for a week. However the content of this post is 100% my own.