Kroger is rolling out a new technology to nearly 200 stores that could change grocery shopping as we know it.
Kroger is rolling out a new technology to nearly 200 stores, and it could change grocery shopping as we know it.
The technology, called Kroger Edge, will be installed on store shelves where paper price tags currently hang. It digitally displays pricing and nutritional information, as well as video ads and coupons for various products.
The technology gives Kroger the ability to instantly change prices and activate promotions across its stores, enabling it to undercut sales at other chains and freeing up employees who would otherwise change prices by hand.
"It's an exciting platform for a lot of future innovation," Kroger Chief Information Officer Chris Hjelm told Business Insider in an interview.
In the future, the technology will communicate with customers' smartphones to help them complete their shopping lists.
"As you walk down the aisle, it will highlight the next item for you to pick on your shopping list," Hjelm said.
This means the shelf will light up underneath the product that shoppers are seeking.
Kroger employees recently tested out this function while picking items for customers' online orders.
"They loved it," Hjelm said, noting that it drastically cut down on the amount of time it took to pick and pack the orders.
Kroger expects Edge to be particularly helpful to customers trying to identify a specific brand among a sea of identical-looking items.
"If you are looking for a particular bottle of wine, Edge will show it to you by highlighting it on the shelf," Hjelm said.
The technology can even help customers select items based on their dietary restrictions.
"If you are standing in front of nutrition bars and you are gluten-free, we would highlight for you, in your color of choice, which of the gluten-free bars are good for you," Hjelm said.
Kroger Edge is currently deployed in only a handful of stores. For now, customers must use one of Kroger's handheld devices to communicate with the system.
The company is working on developing an app that will enable customers to take advantage of the system with their smartphones.
Kroger Edge will be available in 200 stores by the end of 2018, but mostly in stores' end caps — the industry's term for displays at the ends of store aisles.
It could also start showing up soon in other retailers' stores. Kroger is marketing and selling the technology, which was developed with Microsoft Azure, Microsoft's cloud computing service, to other retailers globally.
Some other things we think you might find interesting
We recently caught up with Alex Howard, an experienced business manager and software developer, to discover more about AAH Software Ltd. and what its like being part of the Norwich Research Park business community.
What does AAH Software Ltd do?
Let's start with some statistics.
According to a Mckinsey study, one year after the first Covid-19 spike, in Feb'21, nearly 13 - 17% of all outpatient visits continued to be through Telehealth. This is
AAH Software has received a Cyber Essentials UK government-backed accreditation demonstrating that it operates to robust IT security standards.
The company - which builds and hosts databases and remote research platforms for businesses and medical research organizations - has al