Local startup AisleBuyer are launching their revolutionary iPhone App on Thursday, August 19, and Republican gubernatorial candidate Charlie Baker is scheduled to make an appearance.

We spoke with Baker’s team a few weeks ago about their social media campaign efforts, and at that time he was the only candidate in the Massachusetts governor’s race to use Twitter himself — all the others allocate staff to use this ultra personal communication tool. Baker is expected to talk about his thoughts on the technology startup ecosystem in the state.

AisleBuyer is an iPhone App that lets users avoid checkout lines by making in-store purchases directly from their mobile devices. That’s right, a virtual shopping assistant AND a mobile self check-out app in the palm of your hand.

With the holiday season coming up this could be the boost that traditional in-store shopping needs to keep up with Black Friday and the growing trends of e-commerce. Because, if you are like me, sitting in checkout lines in November and December is not an option. I simply do not have the patients to deal with the SUV wielding, sleep-deprived lunatic parent shoppers out there.

AisleBuyer has a very simple three tiered approach, but their biggest hurdles lie with the strategic partnerships with retailers and brands.

For shoppers the experience is very simple:

• Use your SmartPhone’s camera to scan the UPC barcode of an item.
• Research and accept additional discounts/offers from the store or brand.
• Checkout directly from your phone.
• Display the receipt to an employee at the door.

Simple enough, assuming that the employee at the door is not the same as the checkout counter.

For retailers the benefits include:

• Virtually assisting the customers with additional product information, without having additional sales reps.
• Personalized marketing/dynamic coupons by demographic, location and shopping history.
• Increase customer turnover.
• Limiting the number of new employees hired for additional support during holiday times.
• Improved consumer analytics without the hassles of in person Q&A.

For brands the benefits include:

• Send targeted promotions to consumers without the costs of traditional print or email marketing.
• Increase brand awareness by offering additional complimentary offers at the time of checkout.
• Ensure consistent discounts and product monitoring across multiple retail locations.

Sure sounds great on paper, but as stated above the only measure of success will be partnerships with large retailers and reputable brands. Bringing a new type of purchasing power to the consumer is incredibly risky, especially one that combines the benefits of e-commerce (no checkout lines and special discounts) and in-store shopping (ability to try on or test the product before purchasing), lets call it ‘e-store shopping’. It sure is an exciting technology and one that is launching just in time for the holiday season. We are excited to keep our eyes and ears out for these guys as they continue to grow.

What do you think of AisleBuyer? Do you trust mobile payments? Would this encourage you to shop in store with the same e-commerce feel.