Online shoppers in New Rochelle, N.Y., a suburb just north of New York City, can now pick up their ShopRite grocery orders from a temperature-controlled, outdoor pickup pod for contactless, self-service any time of night or day.
The Keasbey, N.J.-based retailer could be the first grocer on the East Coast to launch its QuickCollect GO! pod, according to a news release.
Temperatures have ranged from 10 to 35 degrees Fahrenheit in mid-January, so how will the dino kale and blueberries hold up? The smart grocery retrieval system in a free-standing pod can hold ambient, refrigerated and frozen foods, along with customers’ other items.
“The QuickCollect GO! pod will make it even easier for our shoppers at the New Rochelle store to pick up their online orders,” Shop-Right Supermarkets Inc. president Steve Savas said in the release. “It’s self-checkout and pickup for online orders that’s done right outside the store.”
QuickCollect GO! pods use robotic automation for secure delivery and retrieval of online orders any time. The first totes start dispensing to the guest in less than one minute to reduce wait time for online pickup customers, according to the release.
The technology was developed by Bell and Howell, an automated e-commerce pickup solutions provider based in Durham, N.C.
Customers who order at shoprite.com receive a unique pickup code when the grocery items are ready. The code arrives in a cell phone text containing a QR code to scan on the console screen, which brings the order to the customer pickup portal, allowing them to access their pre-ordered groceries.
“Retailers like ShopRite recognize that consumer convenience and fulfillment efficiency are critical to the next level of e-commerce. Our data shows that consumers enjoy the convenience of this new individual automated curbside pickup with our QuickCollect GO! pod,” Bell and Howell president and CEO Larry Blue said in the release.
ShopRite is the registered trademark of Wakefern Food Corp., a retailer-owned cooperative based in Keasbey. There are almost 280 ShopRite supermarkets throughout New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Delaware and Maryland.