Grocery Stores And Technology

The LA Times is reporting:

To shave precious minutes off wait times, Ralphs has been installing technology to measure foot traffic in nearly all of its supermarkets.

Known as QueVision, the system uses hidden infrared cameras with body heat trackers to figure out how many customers are shopping at any given time. Managers use that information to redeploy workers to the cash registers when things get busy.

It's already paying off. QueVision has trimmed the average time it takes to get to the front of the line to roughly 30 seconds from the national average of four minutes, a Ralphs spokeswoman said.

The checkout system is part of a long-overdue effort by traditional grocery chains to evolve and stay competitive through the use of technology.

The $518-billion grocery store industry hasn't made a major leap forward since the bar code scanner was introduced in the 1970s. Thin profit margins have kept the shopping experience pretty much the same for decades: squeaky shopping carts, long checkout lines and aggravating scavenger hunts to find products.

It was noted in the article that consumers tend to avoid stores where there are too few store employees, so eliminating workers is not the key to success. With this technology, grocery stores will be able to re-deploy their workers to better serve customers. If the mix is 8 "checkers" and 0 navigators, one can easily see this going to 4 "checkers" and 2 navigators. Folks may not need navigators but navigators will cut down shoplifting and ensure cleanliness and neatness in the aisles.

But, yes, if push comes to shove (particularly with ObamaCare), grocery stores will shed workers. More and more, grocery stores are seen as necessary only for fresh produce and dairy products.