How about a Mom with kids? What about Security? There's an advantage of stores (using security cameras 2ND floor) of standing in line to checkout: all the people are in checkout. Less traffic at doors going OUT. This is a security nightmare. If you think no one steals Pampers or food... How will this stop this?
Most grocery stores service a 2 mile radius. So in reality this is still remarkably inefficient. However, the ideas are sharp. If they can figure out how to leverage non specific areas for small grocery then they have a winner IMO. Otherwise most grocery stores carry anywhere from 10x-20x the number of SKUs you actually buy as an individual and so there is a lot of efficiency lost and a great deal of waste. It's a bet on what people will buy or what they can convince people to buy. I still think online grocery with an off market warehouse storing most of the food is the most efficient model I've heard of. Delivery to efficient locations like lockers makes the most sense economically and environmentally.
But hey, look, no wait time ;)
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Anybody else concerned about the lack of transparency on pricing here? How do we know which consumers are receiving which prices and, more importantly, what factors are the algorithms using to generate them? I can understand a 10% discount for a frequent user of product A, but what's to say a company wants to target certain demographic segments like ethnicity or religion to offer preferred pricing?
Is that OK? Fair? In what marketplace is that acceptable? Whites Only pricing today from 3-5pm?
And when incentives fail to move product, is their system capable of producing disincentives at the direction of a different (read higher bidder) third party? And finally, are we cool with the idea of surge pricing for water when it's hot, and other products based on historical demand patterns and real-time trends? And who ultimately benefits from this temporary application of imputed value - certainly not the manufacturer. And would the manufacturer tolerate being associated with a policy such as surge pricing if they felt it appeared as gouging their consumers.
That variable pricing model has the potential to undermine a lot of branding strategies and may only work for pure commodities where any type of brand loyalty is beside the point. I'm all for the convenience, but just curious as to some of the more practical and ethical concerns,
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Pretty cool. I wouldn't use it because I never buy prepackaged food, but I can see how it would do well in college towns and places where there are a lot of convenience shoppers. Of course the pricing will determine a lot.
Really really cool innovation! Hope it'll be implementing everywhere
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Here the savings are not only on wages but also on cash collection, at cash registers and payment terminals. All this will allow in the long term to reduce overhead costs and reduce the cost of goods in the store in comparison with old stores, where live cashiers work.
Another important point is that the simplification of the calculation procedure of the store increases the size of the average check. The easier it is to part with money - the more goods people will buy at the store.
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I wonder how the goods are counted when you get product from the shelf, or when you leave the store?
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