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Space saving super market | |||||||||||||||||
The idea is to have smaller and more efficient super markets so that we can set them up in costly areas (like New York). Currently Supermarkets use the same area as a sales floor and a warehouse. This idea proposes that we split the warehouse into a seperate area. -> The sales area will only have one unit of each item along with advertising material/displays from the manufacturer (if they pay the supermarket to put up the display). -> Customers walk into the store, pick up a bar code scanner and scan in the bar codes of the items they need to buy and then go to cash counter to pay. -> By the time customer pays for his items, our subterranean warehouse automatically fills up the customers cart and delivers it to the counter and customer walks out.The space saving is achieved by 1) Using underground warehouses which are cheaper and2) Much more efficient packing inside the warehouse compared to store Other advantages include1) Faster shopping - Customer does not need to walk around2) Higher customer / Employee ratio - The employees do not need to spend time putting stuff back on shelf, hence they are really there to help customers.
r1v1j4, Jan 25 2008
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Although it may prove effective in areas with high real-estate costs, I wonder if it consumers will adapt quickly. Even if developing nations we see markets with a plethora of items piled on top of each other, which appear to attract the human and evoke purchasing wants in consumers. If a supermarket were more like Nordstroms (only one item in view) I fear consumers would not adapt quickly and might not even notice if prices were relatively cheaper than nearby vendors.
An automated supermarket was built some years ago in Japan. Don't know how it worked out.
It's cheaper to just have a warehouse and let customers do the lifting and cart filling. This is how Costco works. (Although Sam's Club will let you place orders over the internet for later pickup.)
I'm dubious that underground warehouses would be cheaper in places like NYC, and I think that the higher labor costs of picking things from the shelves and transporting and them upstairs would offset the benefits claimed. Also, this wouldn't work well for perishables.
I'd like to see someone give it a try, though. It might work.