Baseballs Home Run Fresh Fast Food

 

Baseball is back, food sales are rebounding, technology is making life easier, (most of the time) and food technology leaders are expanding their leadership to help baseball teams sell fresh food faster with less cost involved in doing that according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® who stated, “time is money and both Instacart and Amazon launched their grab-and-go tech at baseball stadiums in an effort to drive brand awareness while introducing their products to more consumers.”

In case you have not been to a baseball game yet you may not know that Instacart and Amazon are bringing their tech to the major leagues. Instacart, in partnership with Aramark Sports + Entertainment, this week unveiled its Caper Counter AI-powered point-of-sale system at Boston’s Fenway Park, one week after Seattle-based Amazon launched its Just Walk Out cashierless technology at two food and beverage stores in Houston’s Minute Maid Park.

Talk about fresh food fast, both efforts are aimed at offering a more-streamlined and seamless shopping experience for baseball fans, allowing them to get their snacks and drinks more easily so they can return to the game faster.  

Get this, Boston Red Sox fans will be able to use three Caper Counters for contact-free checkout at select areas around the Boston stadium, including at the Truly Terrace and Walk Thru Bru. Powered by AI, including computer vision and Sensor Fusion technology, the Caper Counter visually detects and identifies items based on their shape, color, key features and sizes. Customers place items for purchase on the Caper Counter—at Fenway items include packaged food and beverages, such as peanuts, soda, beer and candy—where they will be automatically detected and added to the cart for checkout. Customers then select “pay” and choose from either a credit card, loaded ticket or team rewards as their method of payment before going on their way.

Lindon Gao, VP of engineering for Instacart, stated, "Nothing compares to the experience of attending a game in-person at the stadium, but we know fans increasingly want a more engaging, seamless and contact-free checkout experience. By helping to speed up the checkout experience, fans can spend less time buying their peanuts and beer and more time where they want—in the stands, cheering on their team,”… “On average, Caper Counter decreases transaction times by approximately 65%. We’re excited to continue bridging the gap between in-store and online experiences through our omnichannel solutions and look forward to expanding our partnership with Aramark Sports + Entertainment in the future.”

Now, listen to this, Caper Counters, which are designed for retailers that have a smaller physical footprint and SKU count, are one example of the in-store technologies offered as a part of Instacart Platform, a suite of enterprise-grade technologies to enhance and digitize retail experiences. Yes, that means small business with small footprints have new options.  This is important.

At the same time, Astros fans can skip the checkout using Amazon’s Just Walk Out tech at Minute Maid Park’s 19th Hole store, located on the concourse level behind Section 156, and the Market store, located on the Honda Club level behind Section 211. Both stores offer a selection of snacks, soda, candy and ready-to-drink alcohol beverages, while the concourse-level store also offers prepackaged salads, wine bottles and souvenirs. Technology can be overwhelming at times for many of us.  However, if can save you money on labor, seep up service, driving top-line sales and bottom-line profits.  It just might be worth looking into.

Dilip Kumar, VP of physical retail and technology for Amazon, stated, “Our technology is designed to deliver a fast and frictionless shopping experience, so we’re thrilled to help eliminate checkout lines for fans when they need to refuel during games and between innings,”.

I have used the Just Walk Out technology-enabled service at other stores and simply love it.  All you have to do is enter by inserting a credit card at the entry gates to shop. Once they’re inside, anything they take off the shelf is automatically added to their virtual cart. When they have completed their shopping experience, they can exit the store and the credit card they inserted will be charged for the items they took. Customers purchasing alcohol, however, will be required to show their ID to a store attendant for age verification.

Note that this differs slightly from the Just Walk Out tech available at Amazon Fresh stores and a Whole Foods in Washington, D.C., in that customers at these traditional grocery stores can also enter by scanning a QR code in an app or their palm for Amazon One use.  

Looking for success clues of your own? Foodservice Solutions® specializes in outsourced food marketing and business development ideations. We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities, technology, or a new menu product segment.  Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma WA is the global leader in the Grocerant niche visit us on our social media sites by clicking one of the following links: Facebook,  LinkedIn, or Twitter

Whole Foods Just Walk Out Means More Will Walk In

 

Hard to believe by technology is coming to Washington DC, this time it is coming to a Whole Foods store in Glover Park via Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology.   This will be the first Whole Foods to use the Just Walk Out technology that Amazon has developed to reduce labor cost, reduce the time a consumer is forced to spend in the store, and all in all make customers happy.

According to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®, stated, “Amazon is growing confident in its Just Walk Out technology and consumers like it. Operating at the intersection of technology, in store tactile preferences, consumers empowered choice, and saving time Amazon has hit a cord with consumer relevance.”

Recently Amazon Fresh opened its 11^th grocery store in Southern California, the new Amazon Fresh store is approximately 35,000-square-foot which just happens to be very close to the same size as the Whole Foods store in Glover Park section of Washington DC.

If for some unknown reason you have not been following our blog about Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology, let’s review. So, customers who opt for Just Walk Out shopping can enter the store in three ways:

They can scan the QR code in their Amazon app, use Amazon One to scan their palm to enter, or insert a credit or debit card linked to their Amazon account. Each option will open the Just Walk Out gates. Once inside the store, customers can shop as normal. Anything they take off the shelf is automatically added to their virtual cart, and anything they put back on the shelf comes out of their virtual cart. At the end of their trip, customers shopping with the Just Walk Out experience simply scan or insert their entry method again to exit.

Now it is getting even smarter and better, as Amazon Fresh accepts cash, SNAP EBT, credit or debit card, or Amazon One. Customers using Just Walk Out technology can use the In-Store QR code in the Amazon app, Amazon One, or a credit or debit card linked to their Amazon account to shop.

Amazon has not been sitting by making mistakes, they have been working hard to improve the experience every day since they opened the first Amazon Go Store.  While everyone knows data is king at Amazon, the focus of the Just Walk Out technology is customer touchpoints.  Not waiting in line to check out, combined with fresh food fast with full flavor for less it simply put a home run.

In a Battle for Share of Stomach

Are You

Looking A Customer Ahead

If you are a little old fashion or a pain in the neck customer trying to test the technology and the expierence I just want you to know that customers may use the paper coupon at the Just Walk Out exit or at the traditional checkout.

Amazon Fresh, Amazon Go, and Whole Foods all have a wide assortment of national brands and high-quality produce, meat and seafood, as well as a range of prepared foods made fresh in store every day — from fresh-baked bread and made-to-order pizzas to rotisserie chickens and hot sandwiches. These stores offers 365 by Whole Foods Market organics, plus local brands like Pizza Port Brewing, CoolHaus Ice Cream, and Rockenwagner Bakery; regional favorites like Duke’s Mayo and Ellenos Yogurt; and Amazon exclusive brands like Aplenty, Fresh and Cursive.

Technology is relevant to digital natives the ilk of Gen Z and Millennials but saving time, is relevant to everyone. Empowering choice, with fresh food fast is the dream of every grocerant niche retailer.

For international corporate presentations, regional chain presentations, educational forums, or keynotes contact: Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions.  His extensive experience as a multi-unit restaurant operator, consultant, brand / product positioning expert, and public speaking will leave success clues for all. For more information visit GrocerantGuru.com, FoodserviceSolutions.US or call 1-253-759-7869

Sainsbury's Fresher Faster Partnership will Drive Brand Relevance

Grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food continues to drive top-line sales and bottom-line profits in every sector of retail foodservice today according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®. 

Sainsbury has partnered with Amazon to offer Amazon’s “Just Walk Out” retail cashierless technology. You can check it out currently at the SmartShop Pick & Go store in London's Holborn Circus district, the Just Walk Out technology integrates with Sainsbury’s SmartShop mobile app, enabling customers to scan items as they shop and pay without having to wait at the checkout line.

United Kingdom grocer Sainsbury’s has become first international, third-party retailer to use Amazon’s “Just Walk Out” cashierless technology. Amazon said in a press release that Sainsbury’s has opened a Just Walk Out-powered convenience stores called SmartShop Pick & Go in the Holborn Circus district of London. The contactless technology integrates with Sainsbury’s SmartShop mobile app, enabling customers to scan items as they shop and pay without having to wait at the checkout line. 

Dilip Kumar, vice president of physical retail and technology at Amazon, stated, “I’m excited to share that we have collaborated with Sainsbury’s, one of the largest supermarket chains in the U.K., to enable a checkout-free convenience store powered by Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology at their Holborn Circus location in the heart of London,”…“Our work with Sainsbury’s means that they have become the first international business customer of Just Walk Out technology. The opening of the SmartShop Pick & Go also marks the first time Amazon has retrofitted a store with Just Walk Out technology, meaning the store uses Sainsbury’s existing fixtures and fittings with our technology.”

So, to enter the SmartShop Pick & Go store, customers scan a QR code via the SmartShop app, which is linked to a credit or debit card. Just Walk Out technology automatically adds items that customers take off shelves to their virtual cart in the app and removes anything they put back. Shoppers exit the store by scanning the QR code at the automatic gates, and their linked card will be charged for the items selected. Customers receive a receipt via email after they have left the store. Associates are on hand at the stores to assist customers and keep shelves stocked.

London-based Sainsbury’s noted that the Holborn Circus store was selected for the Just Walk Out technology because of its focus on grab-and-go food and beverages for busy local workers who want to complete their shopping as fast as possible. SmartShop Pick & Go carries an assortment of on-the-go food, candy, dairy, packaged meat and fresh produce, and the store houses a beer, wine, and spirits section. Store staff check IDs for alcohol purchases.

Clo Moriarty, retail and digital director at Sainsbury’s, stated, “We are always looking at new ways to make shopping easy and convenient for our customers,”... “We are excited about launching SmartShop Pick & Go, which offers contactless, checkout-free shopping to our customers, and are looking forward to hearing their feedback.”

Regular readers of this blog know that the Just Walk Out technology uses overhead computer-vision cameras, weight sensors and deep-learning technology to detect merchandise that shoppers take from or return to shelves and track the items selected in a virtual cart. Kumar noted that the technology’s application at SmartShop Pick & Go blends into Sainsbury’s digital infrastructure at the store.

Kumar continued, “Integrating Sainsbury’s SmartShop app into Amazon’s Just Walk Out shopping experience is new. It’s the first time we’ve enabled a business customer to use their own app to manage store entry, exit, receipts and payments for shoppers,”… “The integration enables Sainsbury’s to leverage existing systems, and their shoppers are able to use the Sainsbury’s app they’re already accustomed to.”

This could be a big thing, as SmartShop is available at approximately 1,400 Sainsbury’s stores, and sales via the app have grown 173% from last year, the U.K. grocer reported. In supermarkets with SmartShop handsets, 30% of sales are now generated through the app, over twice the level of last year.

Amazon launched Just Walk Out at Amazon Go stores and then offered it at the former Amazon Go Grocery stores in the United States and Amazon Fresh store in West London before debuting the technology at a new Amazon Fresh supermarket in Bellevue, Wash., this past June. 

Amazon Fresh opening marked the premiere of Just Walk Out in a full-size grocery store. U.S. Amazon Fresh stores also offer the multifunction Amazon Dash Cart smart shopping cart, which allows users to find items, track purchases and skip the checkout line.

In September, Amazon announced plans to bring Just Walk Out to Whole Foods Market stores, starting with new locations in Washington, D.C., and Sherman Oaks, Calif., slated to open next year. The technology also is offered at another six Amazon Fresh U.K. stores in the London area — accessible via the Amazon app — as well as at three non-Amazon venues in the U.S., including the Javits Center store in New York City, the Forum store in Los Angeles and the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle.

And earlier this month, Amazon and Starbucks teamed up to open the first Starbucks Pickup store on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, with two more slated for the city in early 2022. Leveraging Just Walk Out technology, the outlet combines the offerings of a Starbucks Cafe and Amazon Go convenience store.

How are you driving brand relevance, saving consumers time, while edifying your operational efficiencies? 

For international corporate presentations, regional chain presentations, educational forums, or keynotes contact: Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions.  His extensive experience as a multi-unit restaurant operator, consultant, brand / product positioning expert, and public speaking will leave success clues for all. For more information visit GrocerantGuru.com, FoodserviceSolutions.US or call 1-253-759-7869