Making the most of local shops

[HandOfGod137]

Dear mumsnet,

I'm a (very) mature student currently surviving on his girlfriends benefit in the last year of a OU degree in computing. For my final year project I have decided to create a website and Android app to help people on very low incomes get the most out of local shops. The basic idea is someone would notice a special offer (i.e. the local greengrocer is selling off end-of-date veg cheaply) and could login to the website or mobile app, update the offer details and all other local users would be notified immediately. I've got some pretty good ideas on what I need to put into it (we're totally broke ourselves!), but it would be very helpful if other people in the same boat could post any things they think something like this should have to make it usable.

Many thanks

NB: this is a project, so it may never reach the point where I would release it. If I do, it will obviously be free to use.

This is a really good idea, but think you'd need a marketing campaign to encourage shops to post their own deals as I am not sure you could rely on consumers. Also think about difference between local shops, and local Branches of shops. An active social networking exec of tesco could swap the app with offers for tesco and therefore the local shops won't actually get a look in. Good luck!

@ CorusKate: Yes, exactly that sort of thing, but local and fast (not to mention cheap: like most people on pay-as-you-go, I rarely switch internet access on with my phone, so I'd be aiming to keep data costs to the bare minimum)
@ ishesingle: good points, not exactly sure how I could exclude branches of the big supermarkets (or even if I should), but I definitely want to help the local shops as much as the shoppers, so something I'm going to look into.
@ ohhelpohnoitsa: like the voucher idea a lot. Might tie in with a BOGOF sharing idea I've had (pairing up people to take advantage of buy-in-bulk offers)

Thanks everyone for the input: this is exactly what I was hoping for, please keep it coming!