Where is the Canola Oil?
I have a few days off before I start my summer internship and today, I was running a few errands. I went to Key Food to pick up some necessary groceries. I haven’t been shopping during the day in a while and was expecting a quick trip…in and out. What I found was a store full of older, probably retired, octogenarians. This is all well and good (even though I had to wait in line while the woman in front of me found the seven coupons she had amongst the thousands she keeps in her wallet). It got me thinking about the core market for that Key Food. Was the older day crowd more profitable than the busy night crowd? Was this the case for all large supermarkets?
Here is why I ask. I recently saw this video:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b79pwb6Wlsc]
As we can see, technology advancements are being made in the restaurant industry. Whether they’re better or worse for the customer is a debate for another time. But as I strolled the aisles of Key Food looking for the items on my shopping list, I became extremely frustrated with the poor technology advancements of the supermarket industry. Where can I find the Canola Oil? The sugar and spice section? The baking section? There are certain standard rules that supermarkets have invented and stuck by. Like the fact that bread is usually against one of the walls (usually the left). The milk is going to be somewhere in the back with the cold dairy items. Once these staple items are placed, each supermarket makes up their own categorization for sections which makes it very hard for unfamiliar shoppers.
So we have robots starting to serve us in restaurants but supermarkets are still in such disarray? I’m not proposing that robots should get my groceries, even though that would be nice. Here’s is what I want. I want to be able to go online and put in my shopping list. Then, the website can let me know what aisle every item is in. That’s it! Sounds simple. The supermarkets already have their set sections. Is it so hard to put them online for all to use?
It is simple, but here is why I think supermarkets haven’t implemented this simple convenience. It’s because their core market is the retired crowd who shop in the middle of the day. These people don’t need this convenience. So why put the extra money into a new website feature? I’ll tell you why. The first supermarket to implement this simple feature will get all us, non-retired people who use the web daily, as repeat customers. We’re not baby-boomers, but we’ve got money (well, I’m a student, so not a lot yet). And we can make a difference in some chain’s bottom line if they give us a reason to.
I am unable to see the video at work so I am not sure if I am reiterating this. Stop and Shop will eventually roll out smart carts. Read this article about how they will have a “gps” unit on their carts . http://www.crmbuyer.com/story/38173.html
You will be able to enter the items you need on your home pc and upload it to Stop and Shop. Then log in on the on board shopping cart gps and it will have your grocery list and where everything is located in the store.
Another option is to just order from fresh direct or peapod and have someone else (who knows, maybe it is a robot) do the shopping for you.
Supermarkets don’t want to optimize your visit. The longer you’re in their store, the more you buy which means they make more money. It is in their best interests to make you walk around as much as possible.
It is for that reason that all candy is at eye-level or lower: easier for you to see and easier for little kids to grab.
Cobas, I went to a trade show five years ago where a mini supermarket was setup to showcase the future of food shopping. There were smart carts and all the items had RFID chips in them so knowing what you have, what you needed and where it was simple. That was five years ago. Nothing has changed. I think you’re right when you say:
“Supermarkets don’t want to optimize your visit. The longer you’re in their store, the more you buy which meanchurns they make more money. It is in their best interests to make you walk around as much as possible.”
Supermarkets think that if they keep us in the store longer, we’ll buy more. According to them, there is no need to optimize. There is, however, something to say about the speed at which customers can shop. The quicker customers can get in and out, the more shoppers you can cater to in a given day. That could change the way stores are designed and the way we interact with our food stores. It could be very profitable if the numbers were crunched. Plus, you’d have happier customers so it would be a win-win.
I was at Key Food today too! Even if I knew where everything I needed was (I will never get back those 10 minutes looking for apricot jam), I still would have been waiting behind a guy who insisted he was entering the correct PIN number despite it being rejected and then failing to understand that his card was locked. Not to mention the slow-as-molasses checkout kids (last week one made me wait while she bought minutes for her cellphone!).
Supermarkets have many different methods of marketing their products. If it was all online it would also create a race to the bottom. I am going to punch in everything I want to buy at each store to find the cheapest. Don’t get me wrong I am not saying its pure price. Service counts, but price is def. a majore factore.