Onboard computer controls a interior media screen for kids plus exterior message screen for shoppers.Families shop in peace!
Make shopping fun with FunCarts - electronic shopping carts featuring interior entertainment screen for kids and exterior screen for messages and advertising.
We have one simple goal : to deliver the world’s best family shopping experience. Let’s face it, shopping is boring for young kids and can be very stressful for parents (not to mention other shoppers!)
Our solution to this has been to rethink the shopping cart, with the goal of delivering a positive, educational, multidimensional shopping cart that entertains and involves children, while allowing their parents to have a more peaceful and productive shopping experience.
So, the FunCart came into being (OK, eventually came into being - this cart has been two years in development) and is based on the great things that we learnt from previous versions which were vended in stores. We have been able to combine on-board technology, the cloud and famous kids characters to entertain and involve children in a way that delivers a great experience for all. Its a combination of the quirky fun shape of the cart, the interior screens with the kids favourites and the feeling of helping Mom with the shop.
The combination of these elements is unbeatable, again and again we hear: It's the only way to shop! Our experience proves that by linking pleasure and interaction into the shopping trip, young children will have positive associations with shopping, even when they outgrow the cart .
Welcome to the FunCart experience! Involve the kids, make it fun, make it interactive, make it educational and they will shop in peace …and parents and other shoppers will too!
Between this cart and your help, we can change that! Millions of parents and shoppers throughout the world will thank us!
We supply these carts to stores and supermarkets, and then manage them in store. That means using our technology to remotely service them and load new software and stories, and just as importantly, we can schedule and set up the messages, media and advertising, all done remotely in live time to each cart no matter where it is. We love the internet! The core of our business (and what we make sure of) is that it's all about delivering a great family shopping experience. ...although we are kinda happy that its going to be a great business as well!
These carts have some great technology! Each FunCart plays songs and stories on a high quality screen inside the cart to the children (of course NO advertising is ever played on that screen), and at the same time the computer in the cart plays media style messages on the top screens.
The cart's computer is low power so the battery will last all day, but runs all the functions very efficiently. It detects when a child gets in the cart, and detects when they are out, so for the Mom, it’s SO simple to use. Just buckle the child in and start shopping!
Each cart is connected to the store Wi-Fi, which means that we can monitor the cart in real time and often fix the cart remotely, or by downloading new firmware. Likewise, we can detect potential problems before they occur and fix them before they become a problem, or we can use the same Wi-Fi to download new stories and images direct from our office. Half of our technology is in the cart, and the other half is in the cloud.
We have developed comprehensive reports and trouble shooting systems to make sure that we get alerts if it looks like a problem, and we have a comprehensiveness media scheduling system that allows us to be very specific and the media times, schedules and arrangements of when and what we download to the cart. The vast majority of what we do is done remotely and in the cloud, but also we are building a store service team to be in the stores when necessary.
The heart of the FunCart currently is the PCB (Printed Circuit Board), which essentially forms a small computer - we have been able to reduce the components down so it’s not a lot bigger than a tablet.
The current prototype PCB is the third version we have made over the years, and is comprised of two different PCBs that are linked together to control all the functionality of the cart. One PCB controls the two media screens and the other PCB manages all the other functions such as wireless link to the Cloud .
We have these prototype PCBs mounted in the FunCart out working now in stores, and the firmware is complete, ready to be ported to the new “super PCB” design as soon as it’s finished.
Our Kickstarter Project is to develop a single PCB that does all the functions of the two boards, but more quickly while using less power. One of the big advantages is that it will be a lot smaller in size, and instead of having to be mounted beneath the screen as you can see above, it will be mounted on the rear of the screen, creating more space in the cart’s interior cab.
The new “super PCB” will give us the following advantages over the prototype version:
- The smaller board format will allow us to make smaller-sized versions of the FunCart allowing us to respond to new opportunities in shopping malls and in very small format stores (where there are small aisles which mean we need smaller carts)
- It will use 30% less power so is much more energy-friendly and allow longer battery life
- It will allow for a forward motion sensor to count the number of people who see the cart’s front screen, an important element for media messages on the top screen and very important in small format stores
Our new FunCart “Super PCB” (the FunCart's brain) will be ready to launch in February 2014.
The PCB project will allow us to run a mix of store, community and advertising style messages on the cart's top screen, and this will make enough money so that the ride is provided to parents for free.
Our team's previous experience was with cart versions which were vended, which meant that each parent paid up to $2 per ride. We would rather that as many parents as possible get to use the FunCarts free of charge, so we are excited with the concept of the outside message screen. For advertisers, this is the perfect place to play very unobtrusive digital billboard-style messages. Each advertising message is 8 seconds long, and is images only - absolutely no audio, so that it won’t interfere or annoy other shoppers.
The PCB project allows us to run the carts for free, and this new advertising and messaging medium will be the first time ever seen!
We want YOU and a community of supporters to help us!
Being one of our backers offers a great opportunity for you to promote or thank an organisation or service.
For just a few dollars you can attract a lot of attention to suitable organisation, service or cause. Our carts go into high traffic area of large supermarkets and attract lots of shoppers to all types of information. The cart’s fun shape attracts attention and interest EVERY time they are taken around the store. Regarding non profit messages, we like to focus on three favourite child-focussed causes: road safety, children’s literacy programs and children’s health programs. If you want, you can choose to support one of these very worthy causes through your backing option, and we will add the power of your investment in the form of extra awareness and extra messages to play on the carts top exterior screens.
The family FunCart was borne out of a stressful personal experience by one of the founders when trying to grocery shop with two toddlers in tow (at Christmas!), and the idea has evolved over time as we got more and more into the program.
In step one, we just had the cart itself, no music, no nothing. We built a very basic design that was vended where parents could pay $1 or $2 and hire the Cart for use in the supermarket. While the kids loved the design, we found they got bored after about 20 minutes in the cart. Uh oh! Time to go back to the drawing board…
In step 2, we added in a cd player that entertained the kids with songs and stories while they were being pushed around the store. This also worked well, but the kids attention maxed out after 30 minutes. So…. What else could we do?
In step 3, we added an entertainment screen to our technology so the kids could watch awesome children’s video entertainment as well as use the cart. EUREKA! The kids were entertained for the whole trip, no matter how long Mom took. But, we were still charging $1 for the ride. How could we offer the cart for free to parents?
Ta Da! And so the FunCart program was born: Let’s use advertising to pay for the cart, which means that parents can use the cart for free. It’s been a two year development for the FunCart , but a multi-year evolution as we grew the concept to what we now know is the best kids cart in the world!
On top of the great development team, we have an awesome team ready to put the FunCart and all its technology into the field. We are going to make the majority of the FunCart right here in America, and have our supply chain all set up and ready to go. Of course it helps that we have been making versions of the carts for years...
We are going to assemble the physical aspects of the FunCarts in a contract assembly plant in Iowa, a company with 200,000 feet of facility and 25 years of assembly experience. We have also contracted a electronics production company in the US, that specialises in producing small scale production runs of high quality electronics especially PCBs. Our previous production experience has shown that we have sufficient capacity and production partners to supply as many FunCarts as needed, wherever they’re needed!
Risks and challengesLearn about accountability on Kickstarter
Is there any risk that you can't complete the circuit board project?
No, we have built different versions of these before, so we know what we are doing and have great guys working with us. BUT we can guarantee there will be bugs and fixes that we will need to do, it’s always the way. Nothing that could slow us down more than say two weeks.
Everything else on the cart is done so we should be good to go early 2014, plus we are running the carts in stores over Dec 2013 and Jan 2014 with our original computer, so we think we will have any issues fully sorted. Our official launch is June 2014, but we will be in hundreds of stores prior to that, with 3 major chains who want the FunCarts prior to our official launch.
How safe is Cart? What if a child gets injured?
The FunCarts are MUCH safer than a normal shopping cart due to the location of the child and the safety belts we provide. Most child shopping cart injuries come from falls from the cart at a height, so travelling in a FunCart is by far the safer option for a child. In our collective experience over the last 10 years we have never had a serious injury in any of our carts.
What size is the market for these carts?
We have targeted the top 25 chains in the US, which is a potential market of 50,000 carts. So the market for these is HUGE.... plus we know from our previous experience that there is a lot of demand for this type of innovation from both parents and retail chains.
Do you have enough experience to run this project?
We have a lot of experience in the team! Between us we have over 40 years of experience in this area, and have built three other types of electronic carts for us and our licensees. So yes, we know what we are doing and have the perfect team to both build and run the FunCarts in stores.
Source: Kickstarter (http://goo.gl/0YG0Hf)
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