Designing the grocery store of the future
Small is the next big thing in grocery stores, the Globe and Mail reports.
Grocers are shrinking the size of their locations, putting aside giant suburban supermarkets in favour of downtown locations a third of their size.
They’re also dedicating even more space to prepared food, largely in response to how the buying habits of today’s working women have changed, according to Paco Underhill, a consumer researcher and the author of Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping and What Women Want: The Global Market Turns Female Friendly.
In a 21st-century grocery store, nothing is accidental, says Underhill, whose research and advice underpin the layout of several new stores in downtown Toronto.
Stores are really a warehouse of opportunity for branding and advertising giants to capture to entice you to spend and then spend some more. In the past, that’s largely been driven by layout and borderline deceptive tactics, Underhill says.
In the coming years, he believes North American grocery stores will capitalize on several emerging trends.
Hybrid stores will combine traditional shopping with online opportunities, allowing you to keep a running tab by scanning goods as they're placed in your cart, download coupons for them on cell phones, and pay without ever entering a line.
In Germany, for instance, some supermarkets are using a fingerprint scanner to verify identity and make the electronic payment.
Korean researchers have developed a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag that could replace the bar codes on groceries in stores. The tag, which can be directly printed on grocery items, uses ink containing carbon nanotubes that could instantly transmit information about your cart’s contents.
As well, private label products for a particular store will be concentrated in one location and more refillable containers will allow for bulk shopping in dry goods and other household supplies, such as laundry soap, Underhill adds.
By Gordon Powers, MSN Money
Posted by: Grouchy | Nov 11, 2021 11:08:06 AM
I don't buy store brands because of the poor quality of most. I also don't buy bulk foods because, in spite of local laws, the stores do not police them and you never know who or what have been digging around with their dirty bare hands. I don't buy groceries from Walmart simply because they take returns of groceries and the returns are in pretty bad shape, yet they are returned to the shelf for someone else to buy.
Posted by: James Laitinen | Nov 11, 2021 2:08:43 PM
What will be nice in the future is not having to even go to a store or at least having someone else spend their time to do your shopping. Shopping for groceries is a non-value adding process that could be replaced with some sort of home delivery. Companies like Walmart, with their internet commerce have been fantastic and saved me alot of time and effort without having to go to the store.
Posted by: Whatever | Nov 13, 2021 10:37:48 AM
Hey James. wiping your A$$ is a" non-value adding process" but a bare necessity just like food. Maybe you can look into a start-up business to offer this service for people like you. This service is already offered by those dedicated volunteers/nurses/healthworkers in long-term or nursing homes to those trying to live life with dignity. Ask them if they wish they still had the ability to walk the aisles of a grocery store. Some people are just pathetically lazy.
Posted by: arthur | Nov 13, 2021 3:11:04 PM
james brings up a not-quite-new and very skewed outlook on life. something as basic as sustenance is worthless if it cannot be measured in dollars. pathetic.
Posted by: Denise | Nov 15, 2021 5:18:50 AM
I hate grocery shopping mostly because it is so expensive here in Canada. Perhaps they could invent a store ethat you pick out daily items of food and then they prepare it for you and deliver it to your front door....oh yeah they have!!!!
Posted by: Donna | Nov 15, 2021 12:43:56 PM
I'm concerned about the nutritional value of food prepared in the store. How healthy is food prepared at 8:00 a.m. and sold to a customer at 6:00 p.m.? I'm glad that I still have the desire to cook at home.
Posted by: Jeff | Nov 16, 2021 2:28:20 PM
Seems to me that the basis behind this whole article reflects the fact that people today are getting lazier and lazier. The fact that prepared food is becoming more popular and taking an increased amount of space over other foods is depressing. The use of prepared food (and yes, I am guilty of that myself) is a contributing factor to the increase in health problems such as Type II Diabetes. Although some prepared foods are well done there are many with high fat contents and other chemicals that are not good for you, at least not on a daily basis. I am not referring to things like fresh frozen vegetables which are not only convenient but nutritional but to things like pizza, microwave dinners, and other similar items.
Note to Grouchy, most store brands are produced by the same companies that make the name brands, the only difference is you are paying for the particular name. The quaility of most products in today's grocery stores are similar, it is just a matter of preference. And no, I am not saying that all brands are equal, some have more of what you want, but that the quality of the product in them is the same no matter how much is in the package.
I found the comment about more bulk items available interesting since most of the stores around here have actually decreased the variety of available bulk foods. This comment runs contrary to the first statement in the article about people looking for more prepared items. Purchasing something in bulk requires effort.
Oh, and I still enjoy grocery shopping and I also enjoy a store with staff that actually know what they have and where it is, something some of the "super sized" stores do not have. We just recently had a new Walmart open here with a grocery section, some prices are good, some are not, but the staff working there are pleasant and were actually knowledgable about what items they were out of and when they expected more in.
Posted by: marcel nunez | Nov 17, 2021 9:14:23 AM
Cannot believe how lazy people have become. Will virtual eating solve the problem because with 1/2 hour you can eat the world!
Posted by: Canadian Coupons | Nov 18, 2021 3:49:34 PM
We are ways away in Canada. We are a large country that is years away from implementing a large plan like this.
Posted by: Hotdeals | Nov 22, 2021 9:00:40 PM
This would never work for me. 80% of what I buy is perishable (veggies, fruits) that end up getting tasteless within days, not weeks. Surely if all I bought were twinkies and chips, I could do it, but good food doesn't last two weeks