Lookout Amazon 7-Eleven Testing Cashierless Store

While Amazon’s Amazon Go concept has been getting lots of hype as a seamless cashierless retail concept and our Grocerant Guru®, Steven Johnson thinks it great, even if they have yet perfected selling hot coffee. Which they are going to test soon in San Francisco soon.

7-Eleven with over 70,000 stores around the world has a cashierless store at its corporate headquarters in Irving. The simple fact is 7-Eleven is not going to roll over and watch someone else reduce operating cost, increase margins, while edifying customer relevance with technology that is in the field working now at both Amazon Go and Bingo Box.

According to reports, the 700-square-foot non-traditional store is available to 7-Eleven employees, the exactly how Amazon tested their Amazon Go store.  Here is how it works: “Employees download an app, sign up, check in at the store, enter the store, shop and exit. A detailed receipt appears in the app automatically after he or she exits”.

Don't be left out in the 

Battle for Share of Stomach

Mani Suri, 7-Eleven senior vice president and chief information officer  stated "Ultimately, our goal is to exceed consumers' expectations for faster, easier transactions and a seamless shopping experience,"  "Introducing new store technology to 7-Eleven employees first has proven to be a very productive way to test and learn before launching to a wider audience. They are honest and candid with their feedback, which enables us to learn and quickly make adjustments to improve the experience.”

Suri continued "This in-house, custom built technology by 7-Eleven engineers is designed for our current and future customers. We continue to innovate, and coupling fresh, innovative, healthy food options with a frictionless shopping experience could be a game-changer,".

President and CEO Joe DePinto stated "Retail technology is evolving at a rapid pace and customer expectations are driving the evolution," said 7-Eleven. "Our team is dedicated to continuing 7-Eleven's legacy of innovation with industry-leading digital solutions. Most recently that has included our award winning 7Rewards loyalty platform, 7NOW on-demand delivery, mobile checkout, and now our new cashierless store."  If your company is not evolving every day you are falling behind.  7-Eleven is in this space and plans to win today and tomorrow.

Do your food marketing ideations look more like yesterday than tomorrow? Interested in learning how www.FoodserviceSolutions.us can edify your retail food brand while creating a platform for consumer convenient meal participation, differentiation and individualization?  Email us at: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or visit:  www.FoodserviceSolutions.us for more information.

Are you Exploring Cashier-less Foodservice

Amazon’s Amazon Go, Alibaba’s BingoBox are disruptors that cannot be discounted, dismissed, or detoured according to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.  Cashier-less retail is driving consumer trial, customer migration, and foodservice sector uncertainty. 

Many legacy Grocery stores, Chain Restaurants, and Convenience Stores tout operational efficiencies however most of those efficiencies are based on industry standards established in the 1960’s and have little if any relevance today. 

If you are a foodservice company today and your business model looks more like the 1990’s, 2005, or 2015 your best days just may be behind you according to Johnson. Here is an example The foodservice retail sector is evolving faster today than ever before driven by consumers that want their orders faster than ever before.  Wendy’s, for example, planned to roll out self-ordering kiosks at about 1,000 of its retail locations by the end of 2017 in an attempt to both lure younger customers and to battle long lines at peak dining hours. That solution looks more like a yesterday than tomorrow’s retail template for success according to Johnson.

Self-service kiosk are simply a inside the box solutions while customers are looking from outside the box for incremental food options according to Johnson. What food companies sell, where they sell it and to whom they sell it too have evolved.  Selling the same thing, in the same way for most food retailers is not a long term prescription for success.  Business models are evolving. Does your business model look more like yesterday than today or tomorrow?

Cashier-less retailers today offer a wider variety of fresh prepared food and beverages enabling consumers to customize, personalize ad family dinner, individual lunch or breakfast for less and faster than most  fast food restaurants offer today.  Don’t let your foodservice brand get trapped looking back and playing catch-up while other are braking away from the pack.

Are you trapped doing what you have always done and doing it the same way?  Where is your new electricity coming from?  Interested in learning how www.FoodserviceSolutions.us can edify your retail food brand while creating a platform for consumer convenient meal participation, differentiation and individualization?  Email us at: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or visit:  www.FoodserviceSolutions.us for more information.

Bingo Box Copycats Driving Cashier Free Adoption

Back in the day the U.S. was filled with cutting edge venture capitalists who would drive innovation in retail foodservice and the world watch, copied and U.S. branded innovative foodservice grew.  Today foodservice innovation and venture capital is center stage in China and Asia according to Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru®, Steven Johnson. 

Consumers in China are just as time starved as anywhere else in the world and retailers looking to reduce consumer time in the stores think going ‘cashier-free is the way to go.  The question is this the next big thing or are retailers and venture capitalist throwing money at China’s cashier-free convenience stores?

First does the technology in a cashier free store work?  Will the retailer actually make money, or learn once again that retail, even tech-driven retail, is a brutal business of low margins, low barriers to entry and high fixed costs? Our Grocerant Guru® asks how much would your margins improve without cashiers? 

This year alone in China there are eight start-ups in the space have raised a total US$385 million. The investment premise seems simple: tap into an ongoing retail revolution in a nation with 1.3 billion potential shoppers with a track record of embracing new retail experiences.

The fact is China’s cashier-free stores are very different from Amazon Go, the fully automated checkout-free stores launched by Amazon, something all of the Chinese start-ups tried to copy but found it too difficult. Amazon Go has delayed it’s rollout due to ongoing technology and operational glitches according to Amazon.  

Most of China’s cashier-free stores fall into two types. The first looks like traditional convenience stores with row of products displayed like in a 7-Eleven, or with product images displayed on a computer screen. Shoppers scan a QR code or their faces to enter the store. They then scan the products they want and check out via mobile payment. In other cases, they are clicking pictures of products and pay via mobile payment.

The products are then dispensed like from a vending machine. Bingobox, Bianlifeng and Xiaomai belong to this category, with most placing box-like stores “in the wild”, such as in parks or on the sidewalk.

The other type are essentially a vending machine, or shelves, placed in office buildings and powered by mobile payment and QR codes. The only difference between this type and a traditional vending machine is the addition of mobile payment enabled by easy scan of QR codes. Guoxiaomei and Citybox are examples of this type.

Here is the point international retailers are expanding into new points of fresh food distribution, that may very well save them lots of money while driving top line sales and bottom line profits?  So we ask does your company look more like yesterday than tomorrow? Will you brand be replaced by a new start-up from Europe, Asia, or the U.S.? 

Success does leave clues www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  is the global leader in grocerant niche business development.  We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities.  Has your company had a Grocerant ScoreCard completed a Grocerant Program Assessment, or new Grocerant niche product Ideation?  Want one?  Call 253-759-7869 Email: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us