The End of the Supermarket Checkout!

Published on: July 20, 2004

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New technologies that make our grocery shopping experiences better, faster and more fun!

Talk to most supermarket shoppers and they will tell you that they love going to the supermarket deli, finding new foods, tasting free samples and saving money…they will also tell you how they hate standing in line and waiting to check out. And while many supermarkets have installed “self-checkout” lanes, according to a ACNielsen Homescan consumer panel of over 61,000 Americans, only a third of consumers think that “great” reinforcing the need for our supermarkets to figure out a better way to checkout.

New technologies being installed in the New England chain, Stop & Shop, are changing the paradigm of traditional supermarket shopping and even eliminating that horror or horrors – the check out lane.

We traveled up to Braintree Massachusetts to check out two of the latest in-store devices: Stop & Shop’s Shopping Buddy and the IBM Everywhere Display.

The Shopping Buddy

Based on a two year evaluation of what shoppers actually wanted as they shop, this is a wireless touch screen browser device that is attached to a shopping cart and delivers personalized services and incentives when activated with one’s frequent shopper card. Each cart also has a RFID (radio frequency identification tag) which triggers certain offers and can help shoppers find anything in the store and draw a path to find it.

The highlights:

Based on the shopper’s frequent shopper card, your buying history and favorite items are available in real time as you shop – you also have the ability to download your shopping list at home and email it to the device to eliminate the need for carrying (and losing?) that piece of paper.

As you shop, you can scan in each item – it will keep a running total of how much you are spending – and actually eliminate the need to wait in line at the check-out. You can also check the price of each item before you buy.

Walk down the aisles, and promotions and paperless coupons "pop-up" on the screen – want to take advantage of that special deal? Just touch the screen, scan the item and you are saving money.

You can place an order at the deli – from anywhere in the store – when it’s ready, you receive a notification to pick it up. No more taking a number and standing in line!

The Everywhere Display

This transforms ANY surface into a virtual interactive touch screen computer.

The highlights:

Can find information about a product adjacent to the product location itself – including videos and web based info.

Can find out what product is in stock – and if not in stock could place a special order.

Offers promotional savings, contest entry, etc.

So when will every store in America be as easy and fun to shop? According to IBM and Stop & Shop, the "Shopping Buddy" will be rolled out to another 20 stores in early 2005 with an additional 150 installations in both Stop & Shop and it’s sister chain Giant (Washington DC area) by the end of 2005. And that’s just the start…my prediction is that as this technology becomes cheaper and more compact, we can expect to see both cart mounted computers and "Everywhere" displays, in practically all supermarkets and mass retailers by 2008.

For more information visit:
Stop & Shop Supermarkets
www.stopandshop.com

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