A Calgary mother and son have teamed up to create a new app they hope will help Canadians buy products made in Canada.
Self-taught app designers Ryan Checora and Cathy Checora released their AI-powered app called O SCANada on the App Store on Feb. 3 to help shoppers identify products that are, or are not, Canadian-made.
“Really, it came to me quite suddenly when I woke up one morning thinking about the news, and you know, the desire of people to buy Canadian,” said Cathy.
With the free app, shoppers can search for products two ways: either by typing the name into the search bar or by scanning a barcode. The app will then tell shoppers who makes the product, where it is made and where it is sold.
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“AI will essentially get that info from the scanned barcode and give you a result that essentially tells you is this product Canadian, is it manufactured in Canada,” said Ryan.
If the product is not made in Canada, but the shopper wants to only buy Canadian, the app will provide a list of alternatives.
For example, if the user were to search for Pringles potato chips, which are produced by American company Kelloggs, it will suggest Canadian brands such as Old Dutch or Humpty Dumpty. The app says, “these brands provide a range of snack options that support the Canadian economy.”
“If they’re choosing something off the shelf at the store, they can find out on the spot if it a Canadian product,” Cathy said.
The duo said they hope to add more items in future updates and plan to push for more local brands and retailers.
“As people are using the app, they might find products that aren’t being suggested to them,” says Ryan. “We want to give them a platform where they can give us those products and we can integrate that into the app and have that fed back to people as well. We’re hoping it will kind of be a collaborative thing where people will use the app and it will improve as it goes on as we add more options for people,” Ryan said.
O SCANada is currently only available on the Apple App Store, but an android version is on the way.
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