At ShopRite supermarkets in the eastern US, Microsoft will be rolling out computerized shopping carts that will stream video ads based on where you are in the store and present instant coupons. Oh boy more advertising! Just what we need.
These carts will allow people with a ShopRite card to enter their shopping list on the ShopRite site from home, and then pull up the list on their grocery cart when they swipe their card. The new carts will also display advertisements depending on where in the supermarket the cart is, using RFID technology to help locate it.
Oh goody. I wonder if they’ll run Vista on these shopping carts? I don’t have that kind of time.
How many of these carts will end up under a bridge because some bum thinks they can get TV on the shopping cart and decides to “upgrade” from his current model?
Maybe we can even get breaking news alerts from our local media. And maybe a traffic report too:
“Multi cart pile up in aisle seven! A detour is available through the liquor section, Sierra Nevada beer now 10% off if you rush your cart there in the next 30 seconds.”
If they add a Britney Spears proximity tracker, then they’ll really have something. Better yet, if the cart will automatically summon AAA for servicing that one bad wheel, I’ll be really impressed.
I don’t even know what to think.
Last year we had a gang of thieves who swapped out Wal-Mart credit card scanner control units while the clerks were distracted, substituted their own modified versions that captured the cc numbers, and then later re-swapped the units so they could download the data. They got caught, but not until many numbers were stolen. And this was only one gang of several nation-wide.
The only customer friendly use for these shopping cart gizmos is to help navigate to an item and to do a price check. Hey, imagine if competitors hacked in over wireless and beat the store prices?
Among the things I have done is drive a Big Truck. Among the places I have been is a Shop Rite warehouse in Jessup, MD (also home to what I hope is the filthiest truck stop in the world–a TA, and bad, even for a TA).
I would not voluntarily eat food that I though might have come from a Shop Rite store.
Their schlocking carts are not even in the top ten of the problems.
Hey, it isn’t your credit card that you use in the cart. According to the article it is your Shop Rite Loyalty Card (frequent buyer card). I think they give you discounts and savings on certain in store items at check out using this card already.
The margin on groceries is so small (I believe it used to be between 1 and 3%) that if they can break even selling ads to producers to cover the cost of the carts and they increasing their sales volume at all it will be well worth the risk. Higher volume also allows them to negotiate a lower credit card transaction fee which is very important considering the increase use of credit and debit card grocery purchases. That fee (1 to 5% based on the agreement you have) can make or break a grocery store.
Remember that since they have to have carts already they only need to pay the extra cost of these cart systems with ad revenue to break even.
DKK
REPLY: Thanks for pointing that out, I had thought it to be a store credit card, like Sears, Penny, etc. So I’ve removed that portion of the post.
“I don’t even know what to think.”
Das ist die Idee. Schauen Sie nur dem Schirm zu . . .
Hello — tap, tap –are you going to correct your post? It isn’t your credit card in the carts, the loyalty card is not a credit card.
Expecting corrections of others without doing them yourself is not a good sign.
DKK
REPLY: Neither is expecting others to adhere to a schedule you envision. But, thanks for the reminder.
You are right, I should have just been patient, I am sorry.
I just noted you had posted new items and wanted to make sure you noticed the error and made an update/correction since the comments and the post (in it’s original form) seemed to concentrated on the credit card issue.
Just for those who might have missed it, a change was made to the post, the comments above were based on the original post which indicated that ShopRite credit cards were to be used rather then a frequent shoppers card.
Again, I am sorry for my impatience! I love your blog and your work and stop in here daily and have linked to in comments on other blogs because I believe you are doing very important and necessary work! Thank you and again, sorry.
DKK
REPLY: No problem, like I said, thanks for the reminder. Maybe I’m the one the needs to apologize for being a bit testy today.
We must be grateful they are not projecting the ads on our retina. (And some of my best friends are marketers.)
ALL OF U GUYS SAY THAT THE TA IN JESSUP IS HELL HOLE RIGHT? WELL ABOUT 3 YEARS AGO IT WAS A HELL OF ALOT WORST.. IT NOW HAS SECUIRTY 3 POLICE OFFERS THAT CIRCLE THE LOT…. LIGHTIN… THEY JUSS REMODLED THE B-ROOMS AND SHOWERS… COME ON GUYS EVERYONE WHO USE 2 STOP IN THERE A LIL OVER 3 YEARS AGO KNOWS WHUT IM TALKIN BOUT… IT USED 2 BE WORST…. STOP CRYIN…. ALOT OF U GUYS/GIRLS .. DONT EVEN CLEAN TEH CABS OF UR TRUCKS AND HAVE DOGS CATS BIRDS AND CRAZY SHYT IN SIDE OF THEM.. THEY DO THE BEST THEY CAN OK.. SINCERLY UR LOCAL IDLEAIRE EMPLOYEE LOL