DETROIT, MI - Could there be an innovative new player entering the grocery space? Recently, General Motors subsidiary BrightDrop announced it will be expanding its presence in the online grocery sector, rolling out a new e-Cart designed to expedite grocery orders.
“COVID has driven a dramatic increase in online grocery shopping, and fulfilling these orders profitably has become a major challenge for retailers of all sizes. With the Trace Grocery, we saw an opportunity to help companies like Kroger tackle these challenges head on,” said BrightDrop Chief Executive Officer Travis Katz in a statement.
BrightDrop’s first customer will be Kroger, according to a press release. The grocer will start using the cart in its e-commerce operations this year.
BrightDrop and Kroger completed an initial pilot program in Lexington and Versailles, Kentucky, during which Kroger experienced noticeable improvement across its customer and associate experience.
As noted in the release, BrightDrop has gained valuable expertise through a series of rapid prototype builds, market research, and customer pilot programs over the past year. With these insights, the company was able to develop, test, refine, and commercialize Trace Grocery, BrightDrop’s first product purpose-built for online grocery and retail order fulfillment.
The Trace Grocery is designed to provide retailers the efficiency and cost-savings benefits their businesses need, with advantages such as:
- Temperature management to store items at food-safe temperatures for up to four hours
- Propulsion-assistance to move up to 350 pounds of groceries, helping reduce physical strain on the labor force
- Auto-braking to stop the electric motor that matches an operator’s walking speed up to 3 mph
- Nine compartments to segment items by order, temperature, and product type for optimized pickups
- Flexibility to easily maneuver inside and outside of a grocer’s store to help reduce costly staging and infrastructure requirements
- Weatherproofing to handle variable temperatures and outdoor elements with ease
To read more about this collaboration, click here.
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