GoMo Buzzwatch: Tesco hopes to attract mobile app developers with API

Tesco is releasing an API to give mobile developers access to its back catalogues. And not just grocery catalogues, but information on customer preferences and purchase history, extended information on goods and products, and even some “check-out” functions. The multi-national hopes to attract third-party developers to create user-friendly mobile applications.

The Tesco API isn’t the first of its kind. Other brands have tried it before. But Tesco is doing interesting things with the relationship between developers and its customers. Using the API, mobile application developers will be able to access enough information about shoppers to be able to build “predictive” applications. They’ll be able to allow consumers to select and pay for Tesco groceries through their own mobile app. Most importantly, app developers can attain “affiliate” statues with Tesco - so that they will earn a little money every time they attract a consumer to Tesco through their mobile app.

Information about the API is being released gradually through the blog of Nick Lansley, Head of R&D at Tesco.com

Tesco is putting tight restrictions on what apps developed with its API can and can’t do. It is very eager that Tesco isn’t portrayed in a bad light, and that customers don’t have a bad experience when trying to pay for goods over the mobile web.

What we think?

It’s probably due to a combination of recession-era cutbacks and the success of the iPhones App Store - large corporations are proving more and more willing to throw open the doors to their internal workings (to an extent) and let the development community do it’s thing. It looks like a great model. The corporation wins because great apps are developed that lead consumers to it. Developers win because they get more opportunities to develop great products. And consumers win because there’s genuine competition in the market, and the best apps will win.