us grocer hopes redmond qfc pilot with microsoft will make it ‘retailer of the future’ - handheld measurement device

Ryan Stephens sees the future of grocery retailing and looks like a banana.
Stephens, technical manager of Kroger, stands on Kroger's grain Channel
Having QFC in Redmond, Washington, the supermarket giant and tech giant Microsoft are testing something called "guided shopping" there.
Stephens logs into his Kroger rewards account using a handheld device in front of the QFC Bella Bottega store and pulls up his shopping list.
A moment later, the image of the banana-Stephanie personal emoji flashed on the digital price tag under Stephanie's preferred brand granola.
The screen shows the price, "tell me I 've saved 74 cents and then it will prompt me to the next aisle ".
Similar to the grocery version of Pokémon Go, guided shopping is one of several apps that Kroger and Microsoft are piloting with the aim of drastically reducing customers' shopping time.
This is part of the bigger digital plan for Kroger, the second largest digital company in the United States.
The largest supermarket chain that provides personalized services to grocery stores
Shopping Experience gives customers more reasons to go shopping in physical supermarkets. and-
The mortar grocery store looks like an old-
Outdated proposals for declining attractiveness.
Although the program is only in the pilot phase of Redmond QFC and Kroger stores in Monroe, Ohio, it will bring together a wide range of personalized technologies.
In addition to the ability to conduct guided shopping on a smartphone or store ,-
The devices offered by Kroger are launching data-
A rich system that provides advertisements and offers to customers as they cross the store.
On the tail cap of the aisle, or on the display set at the end of the aisle, for example, the face
The identification sensor will detect the age and gender of nearby customers and play targeted advertisements in a demographic manner.
The shelf screen goes down the aisle and will flash ads based on the customer's shopping history.
Over time, QFC spokesman Zach Stratton said that the Kroger system "will know enough about your shopping and know, 'Hey, you don't buy meat, so I won't advertise you, you may or may not be a vegetarian, so here are some other options.
"Coupled with more basic products such as door-to-door delivery, Kroger wants the personalized plan to" make us a retailer in the future, "Stratton added ".
This is a high order when Amazon enters $ 860bil (RM3. 52tril)
The 2017 purchase of Whole Foods grocery business has completely rewritten the rules of grocery retailing and put traditional players on the defensive. (
After the news of the acquisition, Kroger's share price fell sharply. )
There's no doubt that anything Kroger does here doesn't seem to be as good as Groger
Amazon Go's divine factor allows customers to just take items out of the store.
But overall, Kroger plans to bring a quiet revolution to the company's 2,780 supermarkets.
Part of the impact will be felt behind the scenes, in measures aimed at improving efficiency and reducing costs-a key move in the Amazon era of low prices.
For example, the employee version of guided-
The shopping app is expected to cut the time it takes to fill in the delivery order by half. Ceiling-
The installed camera will be reminded again
When the shelf is empty and the customer can no longer find the item, the stacker.
The digital price tag system, known as EDGE Shelf, can handle 20,000 price updates in a matter of minutes;
Once fully rolled out, it should eliminate one billion printed paper price tags every year.
But the success of this initiative-and perhaps Kroger's success-may depend on whether it can effectively use customer data to create a shopping experience that is not only personalized but useful.
To this end, a large part of the initiative is committedStore analysis.
The sensor will measure the time the customer sees the ad and how often the ad guides such customers to purchase a particular product.
Products and apps will be customized not only by age and gender, but also by economic conditions.
For example, the current application already allows the cost-
Conscious Shoppers "see what they save in real time before checkout," Stratton said ".
"We really want to meet every shopper where they need it.
"It's only time to prove whether Kroger's initiative will allow stores to get a part of a rapidly changing grocery market by convincing customers to shop in new ways.
Part of the reason for choosing Redmond store is that the community is high-tech --friendly.
In fact, some customers think the idea makes sense even though they haven't tried it yet.
Stephanie varzac, 44year-
Old tech consultant, like the idea of automatically updating prices and custom ads.
"An advertisement that knows what I like might catch my eye," she said . ".
Linda Ware, 77, retired and she agreed on the possible utility of the initiative, although she believed that customers like her would need some return to start using the system.
"If I take the time to get to know it, it might be something I will use," she said . ".
"Give us an incentive if they want us to use it," she added . ".
Give us something.