‘Smart Cart’ Blazes Trail of High-Tech Shopping
You’re in the supermarket, you left the coupons on the kitchen table, can’t find the sun-dried tomatoes and have a bewildering selection of pasta to choose from.
Just plain frustrated and don’t know what to do?
Many consumers in stores across the nation will soon be able to simply glance down at the shopping cart, press a button and let Videocart, a 6-by-9-inch computer, do the work for them. The information is displayed on a screen.
The so-called “smart cart” relies on in-store sensors and radio waves to tell the user what’s on sale, where to locate items and even which products are offering electronic-coupon savings.
With both the supermarket novice and the shopping maven in mind, Videocart aims to meet consumers’ changing habits. Gone are the days of shoppers who just wander the aisles, food companies and analysts say.
“Customers have two basic questions when they go shopping: What do you have on sale and where is it located?” said Rich Simpson, a spokesman for Chicago-area Dominick’s supermarket chain, which has tested Videocart at four suburban stores.
“Videocart answers those questions for them,” Simpson said. “We’ve gotten a good response from our customers.”
The smart cart, test-marketed in 60 stores nationwide for about two years, has advertisements, a map of the store and even offers nutritional advice that can help in choosing certain products.
It can also help while away the time in line with news, weather updates, trivia and movie reviews, said Bob Froetscher, vice president of marketing for Videocart Inc. in Chicago.
Videocart executives hope to have it in 500 stores by the end of the year, reaching a potential 8.5 million shoppers.
Marie DeSantis said she could find things on her own but used Videocart to remind her of sale items and to pass the time while waiting for checkout.
She complained, however, that the display screen on the right-hand side gets in the way of tossing items into the cart.
Supermarkets don’t pay anything for the service. Videocart Inc. makes up the $125,000 installment cost, which includes sensors in the ceiling, input terminals and the terminals on the carts, by charging manufacturers for advertising space, Froetscher said.
An analyst who follows food merchandising said Videocart has found a new marketing niche that’s likely to grow.
“The good thing about Videocart is that it’ll make (shoppers) think twice about buying something they hadn’t before,” particularly the electronic-coupon feature, said Susan Olson, president of Olson Group Inc. in Chicago.
Electronic coupons, which manufacturers pay Videocart to display, are available at the press of a button.
As a shopper heads down an aisle, the screen presents coupons for items in that aisle. The customer selects the coupon, the computer stores the information and automatically transmits it to the cash register when the shopper enters a line.
