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 THE STAT 26Percentage of wireless customers who use their cell phones to take picturesMore Vitals
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AUGUST 31, 2004
How Retailers Are Turning to Tech With e-commerce gaining steadily, bricks-and-mortar outfits are embracing new technologies to keep shoppers happy -- and spending Newbie shoppers entering a Food Lion in Mooresville, N.C., might think they've come to the wrong place. The shop looks more like an electronics emporium than a traditional grocery store. Customers bustle about brandishing handheld scanners. Information kiosks dish out maps on how to find any item, such as that lattice pie crust hiding between aisles 7 and 8. And near the pharmacy, a high-tech blood-pressure monitor takes shoppers' readings and keeps the data for a year. While this Food Lion experimental store seems extraordinary, technologies assembled within it could become commonplace within two years as retailers prepare for a makeover as dramatic as any on the Mix It Up home-design TV show. Gone will be today's cashier stations, price tags, paper sales signs, pharmacy waits, and deli lines. Hold on to your cart, because your shopping experience might soon have little resemblance to anything you experience today. "BIOLOGICAL PROBLEMS." What's behind this shift to technology? With consumers growing more accustomed to the quick convenience of shopping on the Internet, bricks-and-mortar retailers are having to hustle like never before. They increasingly find that new technologies are often the only way to keep costs down while offering customers a better shopping experience. Buyers appreciate kiosks that can suggest the perfect recipe to go with white wine. And a self-checkout that halves the time spent waiting in line can be a big draw. Add changing demographics, and the time is ripe for shopping to get a tech infusion. As the population ages, buyers look for technologies that offset their declining capabilities. Baby boomers, for example, like gadgets that make up for their deteriorating eyesight -- such as the hand-held scanner Food Lion is testing out that displays an item's price and description in larger type. "A lot of the high technology is really addressing some biological problems that our society is having," says Craig Childress, director of prototype design research at human-behavior consultancy Envirosell in New York. "If you really want to be here down the road, you have to look at consumer trends and change accordingly," says Susie McIntosh-Hinson, a concept creator at Food Lion. As a result, the $3.6 trillion U.S. retail industry now spends about 2.1% of its sales a year on technology, up from 1.8% in 2001, according to IBM Global Services' 2003 survey of 78 chief information officers and tech managers.
SAFE DATA? This type of technology has one drawback, however, which could slow its adoption. To make shopping more convenient, "the retailer is going to know you -- your size, your brand preferences -- better than you know yourself," predicts Cohen. That means buying habits, preferences, and personal data will be collected by retailers, potentially sparking privacy concerns. Already, some customers avoid preferred-shopper, or loyalty, cards and make purchases with cash only. As stores get more high-tech, retailers will need to persuade shoppers that they won't sell or misuse their data. If retailers can ease concerns, the store of the future will unfold. You can catch an early glimpse at chains like Stop & Shop Supermarkets, which is testing a device called a Shopping Buddy. This gizmo is the size of a large purse that attaches to a shopping cart's handlebar. It sports a flat screen that can scan a customer's preferred-shopper card to reveal a list of past purchases. A shopper can then use the data to compile fresh grocery lists, and the Buddy will direct them to the aisles where the items can be found. Research shows that most customers leave a grocery store still having something they wanted to buy but couldn't find. Made by tech companies Symbol (SBL ) and Cuesol, the Buddy can also suggest an entree to make for dinner and provide customers with a related list of ingredients and cooking instructions. And at three experimental Stop & Shop stores, it allows shoppers to place an order with the deli: Just hit "the usual" button to order your favorite chicken sandwich. The contraption will notify the shopper when it's ready to be picked up. Stop & Shop is about to roll the Buddy out chainwide.
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