Tesco looks to become the heart of digital family life

Tesco is to launch a combined interactive ‘pinboard’ and shopping portal in a bid to put the brand at the centre of household life.

The UK's largest retailer is aiming to revolutionise the way people shop online with an interactive desktop that links directly to Tesco.com, and aims to replicate a typical family fridge door.

The application is designed to be a message board and communication point within the homethat will enable user to sync calendars, notes and recipes with Tesco.com, have a shopping list that can be constantly updated, and place orders and arrange delivery without the need to open a browser.

Users can also 'pin' digital photos and messages to the screen, and Tesco aims to enable direct access to social networking sites like Facebook and Bebo.

The retailer had identified the increasing number of homes with PCs and laptops in the kitchen as an opportunity for them to go far beyond their current etail experience, with the idea of the solution being a hub, like people already do with a kitchen pinboard or their fridge.

Grocery shopping isn't very exciting on the web, so Tesco have embarked on a strategy to improve that and change the way people shop online, with the concept of ‘little and often’ rather than ‘one great big shop’, becoming more convenient.

The retail giant is also opening its programming interface (API) to encourage developers and brands to create applications for the new desktop in order to generate an immersive web experience.

They want to build a developer community around the Tesco API to push the concept of creating something that's more than simply grocery shopping. For example a recipe site could have an application on it with the ingredients linked to the users' Tesco.com account.

This is about creating functional utility attached to the Tesco brand, along with its products and services that ultimately drives an emotional as well as a rational connection to the brand as it becomes a more useful part of daily life.

The trial will run until the end of March 2009, and the project is part of a major strategic focus by Tesco to evolve the online shopping experience. The retailer has also announced an overhauled of Tesco.com in April next year.