Imagine a shopping pal that can give you a special price on certain items, alert you to other discounts, remind you of items on your shopping list, take your deli sandwich order from anywhere in the store and let you know when it's ready for pickup, provide recipe ideas and speed you through the checkout line.

The buddy will even provide health tips, news of the day and the weather forecast.

What's more, it's only slightly larger than a paperback novel.

Sound clever? Actually, it's Klever — as in Salt Lake-based Klever Marketing — along with Fujitsu, partners who have developed an electronic device mounted to a shopping cart to make a customer's experience smoother, faster and more efficient.

Its developers envision a day — perhaps only months away — when shoppers gladly walk down the aisle, married to what seems today like whiz-bang technology jam-packed with useful information and tools.

"The idea is trying to, in the easiest way possible, get information in the customers' hands, because if they have information, they'll make good buying decisions," said Vernon Slack, director of marketing for the Mobile Solutions Group of Fujitsu Transaction Solutions Inc.

"In the long run, a grocer always wants the customer to be happy, no matter what. They'll become loyal and come back to the store over and over again, and a device like this helps them capture customer loyalty."

Techno-shopping

Called the U-Scan Shopper, the battery-powered device uses wireless communication and infrared triggers throughout the store in ways designed to be beneficial to the customer, the retailer and product makers.

Back to your imagination. Say you walk into a store and grab a U-Scan Shopper-equipped cart. Your store loyalty card can help the device recall your shopping history and remind you, as you stroll by the dairy case, that you might need eggs. After all, you last bought them here two weeks ago.

The screen can show the store's specials, and you can check the boxes beside the items you want. The device will show you which aisle contains the Froot Loops and even remind you to nab some cookies while you're in the snack-food aisle.

Not sure what to whip up for dinner? Meal ideas and recipes — with nutritional details — can be shown, and ingredient lists can be marked to add those essentials to the shopping list. Recipes can be e-mailed home or printed at checkout.

Scan a Kleenex box's bar code with the device to check its price. Check a running total of your collected goods, ensuring you remain within your budget.