UNITED STATES - These 3 supermarket technologies could change the way the retail business is done in the near future:
ShoppingScout
ShoppingScout, a free web and mobile application organizes and simplifies the shopping process with advanced analytics. ShoppingScout captures a consumer's Intent-to-Buy for retailers, helping to unlock the 'why' behind purchasing and store-selection decisions.
The app is as powerful as it is simple to use. Users log on through their smartphones to create shopping lists which ShoppingScout's sophisticated algorithms use to learn about the consumer's preferences. It turns this data into an optimized, personalized shopping list based on the stores the user is willing to consider, their indicated product preferences, and other factors including price and health attributes such as organic and gluten free.
In the future, Engage3, the makers of ShoppingScout, plan to use this data in a revolutionary way: to make personalized offers a viable retail tool. Take a ShoppingScout user who regularly buys blueberries for example. Current attempts at personalized offers such as Safeway's 'Just for You' program, would target the blueberries with a coupon deal. ShoppingScout however would recognize this behavior will likely continue without the need for intervention, and instead would look to incentivize the purchase of a similar produce item that would fall in line with the preferences of a blueberry lover. Maybe a two-for-one deal on raspberries for example. Manufacturers could even use this data to study the price point at which a particular group of consumers would be likely to switch brands, giving produce marketers a powerful new tool in their arsenal.
“The average family makes 3,000 purchasing decisions per year, with over 100 options for each. That’s a total of at least 300,000 options - no one has that much time,” Ken Ouimet, Engage3 Co-founder told ANUK. “So we offer a computerized agent with artificial intelligence. This takes all the stress off the shopper, by evaluating all the options for them. The agent determines what products should be purchased, and at what stores. We can save that family roughly 30% on their shopping. That’s a very powerful thing, especially given that the application is free.”
Aisle411
This app is the Google Maps of the retail aisle. Its design is as powerful as it is simple. A customer merely punches in the name of the item they're looking for, whether it be oranges or Oreos, and the app shows them a map of the store, guiding them to the product in a quick and seamless manner. With participating retailers such as Hy-Vee, Shop'n Save, Schnucks, and WinCo Foods, Aisle411 promises to be a big time saver for consumers working their way around crowded retail aisles, as well as for store managers wondering how to best display their products in an easy-to-find manner.
Kroger's QueVision
Mashable, a tech news website, notes how the retail giant Kroger has introduced a new management aid system, QueVision which alerts store managers when more registers are needed to prevent long lines at checkout. The technology works by tracking the number of people both entering and leaving Kroger stores with heat-sensitive infrared sensors. When the number of customers in a store passes certain thresholds, managers are alerted that registers either need to be open or closed to accommodate the change in store population.
If you'd like to learn more about Kroger's QueVision system check out ANUK's past article on it here.
Stay tuned to ANUK for more exciting supermarket technologies!
