The Digital Food Store

Digital Price Tagss

Back in 2001 I ran across a food store that used digital price tags instead of the usual paper tags. Since the tags are all tied back to centralized computer, prices can be changed all at once, drastically reduce the need for human labor to change the tags throughout the store each time a sale starts and ends. Since the cost to change prices is almost zero, these tags now provide stores the options to have special one day, half-day, one hour, half-hour, and an unlimited number of unique sale time periods. I never understood exactly why these tags did not catch on and become more prevalent throughout subsequent years. I did notice that Khol’s started to use these tags on their shoes. I am not sure if it was due to their ever-changing prices and sales on shoes, or if it was just a more durable method over paper.

I recently took a spin on Google to research where digital price tags stood in the market place. I found that the Altierre company has recently developed a low cost long lasting digital price tag that claims - among the usual cost savings - to be capable of improving communications with its customers. For example the digital tags can also display recall information reducing the need for employees to hang up prints outs around the store. This system would have helped reduce the confusion during the recent peanut butter and peanut recall, as individual products could have been marked – via the digital price tag – about its relevancy to the recall.
More information can be found here. Go here for a video describing the technology and its cost savings capabilities.

Personal Price Scanners
The person price scanner concept has recently been introduced into one my local food stores. At first I was skeptical about using the hand-held scanners, as I could not comprehend how I would benefit, nor did I understand how they would benefit the store. After completing my first shopping experience with them, I can fully appreciate their utility for both the consumer and the store.
(1) Using the personal scanner eliminates the need to ask for price checks, since the price is displayed on the scanner.
(2) Random sale information is displayed on the scanner when it is not being used, which entices its user to seek out these items. I would not put it past the device to be geo-located within the store such that the items that are shown to be on sale, are either close in proximity and/or at the other end of the store.
(3) My total purchase price is easily shown helping me to stay within my budget.
(4) Random items are reduced due to being scanned by the personal scanner, which turns the shopping experience into a game where you always wonder if the item you select will one of the lucky ‘bonus savings’ items. By changing the experience from shopping to a cost savings game environment it shifts the focus from spending money to saving money.
(5) Clearly, if I have scanned all of my items before checking out, I can breeze through the checkout – self or assisted – line saving me time and the store money.
(6) Finally, I am sure all of this information is - similar to tracking cookies, banner ads, targeted e-mails, and other web based tracking devices – collected, analyzed, sold, and is used to market me future products.

The future?
I do wonder if there would ever be a time where digital price tags would be coupled with personal digital scanners to produce a fully digital food store. This type of environment could almost operate autonomously since very few humans would be needed to support the operations of the store, since the shopper would be doing all of the work – scanning, price-checking, bagging, and paying.