Karen Collier
December 15, 2012
Herald Sun
VIRTUAL change rooms, pizza, juice and coffee bars, and free fruit for kids – this could be the new face of supermarket shopping.
Coles is testing a range of technologies, revamped food areas and market-style delicatessens that could revolutionise our visits to the grocery store.
In an Australian supermarket first, a virtual change room embedded with a video camera that maps your body and superimposes images of clothes from Coles’ MIX fashion line has been set up in an aisle.
Shoppers at the grocery giant’s refurbished Southland store can also use hybrid checkouts that allow self-service with a conveyor belt for big trolley loads, and can also be converted to a traditional version manned by staff.
A queue-busting handheld device that scans groceries while customers are in line will also soon be tested in busy periods, along with free fruit at the children’s trolley return.
Store format manager Theo Sarantopoulos said the concepts could be extended to other stores if feedback was positive.
“We have listened to customers in focus groups about what they want and hope to create a better shopping experience,” Mr Sarantopoulos said.
Shoppers can sit at a cafe and browse recipes on iPads while sipping a cappuccino, or slip their takeaway cuppa into a trolley cupholder.
Chefs prepare pizzas, sushi, sandwiches, hot dinners and offer combo drink-and-meal deals from a new kitchen area.
“People are telling us they’d like help with solving the dilemma of what’s for lunch or dinner tonight,” Mr Sarantopoulos said.
Customers can also select pieces of meat to be aged in a cabinet, or get their fish marinated.
New foods are served at an expanded deli. “We want it to feel more like a market,” Mr Sarantopoulos said.
Shopper Tasha Fotomaras approved of the bigger self-serve checkout.
“I’ve mastered self-serve and will always use it if I can as I find it much faster,” Ms Fotomaras said.
Rival Woolworths is also modernising stores by trialling iPad directories at the end of aisles and pizza and sushi bars.
karen.collier@news.com.au
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