News

New kiosks make grocery carts smarter

May 3, 2005

National Post: New supermarket carts equipped with touchscreens will guide you to the tomatoes or toothpicks, let you order deli meat without standing in line and keep a running tally of your purchases.

What they won't do is tell you how many fat grams or calories are in your cart. The idea is to make it easier for consumers to buy, not induce second thoughts about what you're buying.

"It helps save you time, and it helps save you money. It's all about making it easy for you," IBM Corp. executive Ken Lawler said in an interview.

IBM's "shopping buddy" has been test-marketed at Stop & Shop stores in Massachusetts and is being rolled out this summer. A competing device called Concierge, made by Springboard Retail Networks Inc., will be tested in Canadian stores in June and July.

"The whole model is driven by advertisers' need to get in front of consumers," said Springboard spokesman Michael Alexandor. "They're not watching 30-second TV ads anymore."

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