News

New retail experience

May 31, 2004

SALISBURY, N.C.--Food Lion opened the first of five electronically equipped Bloom food stores that feature consumer-friendly store designs and leading edge retail consumer technologies, according to an article in The E-business Executive Daily.

"Consumers are more time-pressed than ever, and the Bloom concept is based on providing a more convenient and hassle-free shopping experience," said Jeff Lowrance, corporate communications manager at Food Lion. "We looked at ways to take advantage of opportunities through new store concepts, and that's Bloom."

The premise of the Bloom stores is to give customers the ability to find foods and complete  the payment process more quickly, plus offer additional information and services.

Customers can use personal scanners for product information, use information kiosks for recipes and wine advice, use self-service produce scales that print checkout labels and use self-service checkout.

IBM is providing point of sale technology, while Microsoft provides integrated Windows technology across NCR kiosks, workstations in various departments and tablet PCs. Each store manager will use a tablet PC to interact with customers, track inventory and stocking information from anywhere in the store.

Lowrance called the first day's experience "overwhelmingly positive," and said customers are eagerly trying out the personal scanners, information stations and produce scales. "For just one day's experience, we're very pleased," he said.

The use of technology is part of Food Lion's existing supply chain initiatives. Lowrance believes the new initiatives will give Food Lion the ability to reduce out of stocks and meet customer demand more efficiently.