Target your in-store shopping list

Target is installing app-based indoor mapping in its stores, making it easier for customers to find what they’re looking for.

Following a 2015 test, the U.S. retail chain is integrating beacon and Bluetooth technology with its mobile app. The app will show the shopper’s location in real time as they move about the store (with a familiar blue dot), and display nearby sales and deals.

Shoppers will also be able to find an item on the map through their digital shopping list.

Target describes the new technology as “a GPS for your shopping cart.”

“Just click on an item from your list and the app will indicate on a store map the precise aisle where you can find your item,” said Target chief information and digital officer Mike McNamara.

The beacons are a function of new, energy-efficient LED lighting that Target is installing in its stores.

Another mobile enhancement is Target’s integration of its savings app Cartwheel within its main store app. (Cartwheel is more popular than the primary Target app.) Target will use the beacon technology to highlight which of its Cartwheel deals are near a shopper’s current location. In the months to come, the app will support mobile payments at checkout.

The new indoor location technology will be live in across half of the chain of 1,800 stores in time for the 2017 holiday season.