FOCUS-Ahold ups stakes in US grocery war with mini-“robot supermarkets” – Nasdaq.com:
“Grocery group Ahold Delhaize will roll out small, automated warehouses to speed order picking and cut delivery times, Reuters has learned, as it revamps its ecommerce business in response to rising competition in a fast-growing sector.”
*Change is coming to how food retail interacts with the consumer.
Amazon’s Prime Pantry service lets you ship 45 pounds of groceries for a $6 fee: “Amazon’s dead-set on killing off the grocery store, with a same-day delivery service and even a Dash gadget for restocking items around the house. Now the retailer’s going one step further, taking on Costco and Walmart with a new program called Prime Pantry.”
(Via.) Techmeme
*This could be the tip of the iceberg on how online retailing will change the game in the grocery business.
I’ve been thinking about how packaging would change if it was not on store shelves needing to scream at customers as they wheel their cart around the store. Packaging could be designed to fit in and be combined in cubes that fit in standard box sizes. What items are bought together? Maybe these items would have packages that enable more efficient shipping.
Keep an eye out for packaging news from the food and CPG (Consumer Packaged Goods) industries.
iBeacon – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
“iBeacons could send you notifications of items around you that are on sale or items you may be looking for”
*It will be interesting to see if supermarkets integrate this with your shopping list, created in app or on the web, tied to your phone to enable complete purchases of intended purchases. Where would receipes and recipe apps play in to this? There are some items and ingredients that shoppers would have a hard time finding. Integration of data on item location and items for intended purchase could make shopping easier and better for both buyer and seller.
For the seller:
For the buyer:
*There could be big changes to in-store retailing in the next five years.
D.L. Damore 