Shopping at Walmart using lookout and Aira

There once was a time when blind people would have to go to the store, request someone to assist them shopping, and pray to God that the people helping them would get the correct items that the shopper wanted. However, nowadays, as blind people, we do have the option of shopping independently, especially those of us who use Android devices, with apps such as lookout and Aira. I'm using Walmart as an example for this particular post, because each store has its own layout and systems, but I will eventually do a comprehensive deep dive on this subject when I have more data and information to provide.

Understanding the aisle system
Walmart is interesting in the fact that the larger aisle numbers are toward the front of the store, + the lettering goes from right to left, from a being the farthest to the right + so on. The letters progress the further you go left. This means that if you are looking for something located in aisle A1, you will have to go the furthest to the right and toward the back of the store to find it. Understanding the layout is critical for helping you navigate to the aisle you are looking for so that you can locate the item you want.

If you know what you are looking for, use the Walmart app to search the database. + Find the aisle number that corresponds to the item you want. When you find the item you want in the Walmart app, expanding its details will provide you the aisle number.

When looking for the aisle numbers, the aisle signage is on the higher part of the entrance to the shelves comes, which means that you will have to take your phone and raise it with lookout or Aira to find it. Also, Aira has an access partnership with Walmart, Jo. The call is free.

Once you are in the aisle that you want, depending on what you are trying to locate, you may have to switch between text mode, food labels mode, and explore mode to get a good read on the text. One of the reasons that I wished that lookout would go back to the way that it used to be for changing modes is that you have to do extra tapping to change modes, whereas it used to be that you could just swipe left and right with two fingers to change modes.

I only use Aira when I am trying to locate something that is not exactly obvious. For example, at my local Walmart, I was having difficulty finding the potstickers, which I knew were in aisle a27, but it wasn't exactly obvious because the potstickers were located in the same aisle as the pizzas. Every Walmart location may be different, especially because there are the Walmart supercenters with the grocery aisles and also the Walmarts that are not super centers. This is where where searching your local Walmart for what you are looking for is key.

I also did provide feedback to the Walmart developers, because the store map is not accessible. I suggested the ability to get voice guidance directions from the current aisle to the aisle that a shopper is looking for. There are other ways that Walmart can potentially make this even more accessible, with providing an alphabetical and numerical index of aisle numbers + the items that are located within each.

I get that for a lot of blind people, they would rather shop online and not deal with the hassle of going to the store, or using a personal shopper. However, I love the fact now that I have the option to be able to shop independently as a blind person. I like freedom and options.

Excuse the Google dictation errors. This is something that I wish Google would fix. I remember when Google dictation used to be better than it is now. I don't know what has gotten into them, but they really do need to fix it. Anyway. Just a quick aside