Urban Value Corner Store and Vroom Delivery Robots Work

 

Texas has been a close second or leading the country in new COVID 19 cases of late so it can be no wonder that one Texas based foodservice retailer has opted to deliver food too customers with a robot according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

Grocerant niche fresh food fast continues to drive top line growth and bottom-line profits in every retail foodservice sector today according to the team at Foodservice Solutions®. Now Urban Value Corner Store is partnering with e-commerce provider Vroom Delivery and last-mile delivery robot operator Tortoise to offer on-demand delivery in the coming months in hopes of driving new electricity into the brand.

In Dallas Urban Value Corner Store customers will have access to thousands of products via robot delivery in less than an hour, including grocery staples like milk and eggs, beverages, ice cream, snacks and more. Yes, including, alcohol and tobacco items will also be available for delivery from human drivers.

So, each delivery robot is approximately the size of a large cooler. They are remotely piloted, ensuring a human being is always at the wheel. The cart can carry more than 100 pounds of goods in sealed containers, which are remotely opened by the cart operator once it reaches its destination.

Battle for Share of Stomach

As most of us know the roads are a bit lumpy in the Dallas area, so he robots will operate on sidewalks and drive at an average speed of three miles per hour, allowing them to safely navigate around people, pets and obstacles.

This partnership between Vroom and Tortoise allows for a contactless, zero-emission and affordable home delivery option, mitigating sustainability and congestion challenges, according to the press release. The Tortoise cart is 100 percent electric, removing the need for a gas-guzzling delivery vehicle and minimizing the traffic impact of e-commerce.

Dmitry Shevelenko, co-founder of Tortoise, stated, "We are thrilled to be working with Urban Value, a leading convenience store chain in downtown Dallas, on a pilot deployment in the coming months".

For those who do not know, Urban Value, operates c-stores in and around the Dallas area, will initially pilot the program from its downtown Dallas store. Pending success of the initial pilot, the retailer will roll the program out across the Dallas metroplex.

Urban Value customers can already order for delivery through the Vroom platform, with robots taking up last-mile responsibilities in the coming months.

Vroom Delivery CEO John Nelson, stated, "We are very excited to pilot this first-in-market contactless shopping opportunity," ... "I expect that this technology combined with our diverse product offering will provide downtown Dallas residents and office staff a much more convenient shopping experience."

According to Johnson, “Brand relevance is in part driven with innovation in new food products in combination with new avenues of distribution all of which are the platform for the new electricity.

Johnson stated “that in my minds-eye the new electricity must be very efficient for the supply and includes such things as fresh foods, developing brands, unique urban clothing, grocerant positioning, fresh food messaging, autonomous delivery, cashier-less retail, plates, glasses, cash-less payments, digital hand-held marketing.

All retailers to survive the next generation of retail must embrace the artificial intelligence revolution while simultaneously embracing fresh food that is portable, fresh, with differentiation that is familiar not different.

Are you looking for a new partnership to drive sales? Are you ready for some fresh ideations? Do your food marketing tactics look more like yesterday that tomorrow?  Visit GrocerantGuru.com for more information or contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us Remember success does leave clues and we just may have the clue you need to propel your continued success.

Food Marketing Drives Convenient Meal Participation, Differentiation, and Individualization

Today we can see just how the undercurrents of change and success within the food industry today can be traced back directly to Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® FIVE P’s of grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food marketing.

The FIVE P’s were identified, quantified, and qualified by Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru®, Steven Johnson back in the day (1994).  Then introduced, implemented, and integrated by foodservice companies including Full Service Restaurants, Chain Drug Stores, Grocery Stores, QSR’s, and C-Store clients.  The FIVE P’s are:

After repeated successful retail food industry adoption of Foodservice Solutions® FIVE P’s of grocerant niche fresh food marketing; Technomic conducted qualitative and quantitative research then compiled the following infographic highlighting the importance and consumer relevance that portability play’s within retail foodservice today.  The infographic is entitled Pertinence of Portability:

Highlighted by Technomic is the fact that 51% of the U.S. consumer order Food-2-Go once a week or more. When order breakfast On-The-Go 56% of consumers say portability is important. From 2012 to 2014 consumers ranking the importance of portability for snacks jumped from 55% to 60%. We are delighted that Technomic has highlighted the growing important role that portability plays with food consumers today. Regular readers of this blog know that the importance of portability continues to expand.

Foodservice Solutions®  excels at vertical brand product positioning, marketing strategy, business development specifically food sale, packaging sales while identifying, quantifying and qualifying niche opportunity for global foodservice related activity.  Have you considered expanding into the grocerant niche filled with Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food? If so call 1-253-759-7869 today learn how the FIVE P’s of Food Marketing can Drive Sales at your retail storefront.

Visit: www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  if you are interested in learning how Foodservice Solutions FIVE P’s of Food Marketing can edify your retail food brand while creating a platform for consumer convenient meal participation, differentiation and individualization or you can learn more at Facebook.com/Steven Johnson, Linkedin.com/in/grocerant or twitter.com/grocerant