A Drive-Thru Supermarket

On paper—and, thus far, thats the only place this grocery store exists—this proposal seems to have plenty to offer both retailers and customers. And thats why Steve Beardsley, the president of the company that is trying to create these stores, thinks its more than worth the $12 million initial investment.

The initial Albuquerque store is slated to open by the end of March 2006, with Beardsley projecting the opening of "1,200-1,500 stores in the next 15-20 years."

Beardsley, president of AutoCart LLC, says customers will benefit from sharply lower prices along with less time spent shopping and a more pleasant shopping experience.

Beardsley estimated that it takes at least 45 minutes to purchase the typical Americans average 21-item shopping list at a traditional large grocery chain, compared with about 16 minutes at an AutoCart facility. Some of those time savings are a result of using professionals who are just locating products all day long, while other savings come from having about 65 loaders strategically positioned throughout the warehouse. Its akin to doing the family shopping with 65 helpers linked through a wireless network.

Another futuristic grocery tool is Fujitsus latest smart cart, which also knows whats on your shopping list and how to get to it. To read more, click here.

For retailers, the initial advantage is that using such an unorthodox approach would attract a lot of curious customers. But there are other practical advantages, Beardsley said, from slightly reduced insurance costs to reduced need for floor maintenance, fewer losses due to shoplifting and fewer robberies (no cashiers to rob and no cash to steal).

The way its slated to work is that customers will pull into one of 30 order stations, all of which are housed under a roof. Right next door is about 100,000 square feet of warehouse space and about 70,000 square feet of drive-through space. To put that into context, Beardsley said the average size of an Albertsons store is about 120,000 square feet.

Heres how it works. Upon arrival, a driver reaches out to the order kiosk, grabs a 15-inch touch-screen computer and brings the tethered unit into the car. While parked, the consumer makes selections from what the screen says is available in inventory at that moment. (No more spending time trying to find a specific product that isnt there.)

While the U.S. is exploring ways to fully automate its grocery stores, China is just starting to accept point-of-sale. To read more, click here.

Beardsley is preserving a touch of impulse shopping, as the display will gently mention specials when a customer is searching for a desired item. The customer might select "milk," and the list of selections would flag a special.

Customers will also have the option of e-mailing, faxing or using a Web site to select their groceries, which theoretically will accelerate their shopping trip even more. How many customers could an AutoCart facility handle? If all purchases were preordered, Beardsley said, about 7,000 cars a day could make pickups. If everyone does their shopping with the computer on-site, he estimated that it could handle "somewhere in the 2,000-to-4,000 car-a-day neighborhood."

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