Chris Griffith
    From: The Australian
    February 20, 2012


Virtual supermarket



WOOLWORTHS has unveiled a virtual supermarket in Sydney which lets customers buy groceries with their mobile phone.

The virtual supermarket consists of displays of products on the walls of Town Hall Station, in central Sydney.

Customers, in this case commuters, do not purchase any goods physically.   

Instead they view goods on display on the walls of the station, and then buy them using the Woolworths apps on their mobile device. Woolworths then delivers the goods to their home for a delivery fee.

The unveiling coincides with last week's release of an updated version of the Woolworths app which allows goods to be purchased directly from an iPhone. Users choose from any of the items in the product list that has been available on earlier versions of the app.

The difference with the Virtual Supermarket is that customers get to see fully-sized physical displays of items.



Woolworths Director of Supermarkets, Tjeerd Jegen, said the walls of Town Hall Station would feature more than 120 of Woolworths’ most popular products across all product categories, including its fresh food.   

"Sydney commuters going through Town Hall station will be the first in Australia to experience the cutting edge of supermarket innovation," he said.

Users who download or update the Woolworths App on their smartphones scan product barcodes off the virtual supermarket wall, and add them to their shopping list.

They pay for the goods online which are then delivered.

Virtual shopping is believed to be the way of the future, and busy urban railways stations and arcades are ideal for them.

Mr Jegen said the Town Hall virtual supermarket was a trial.

"The virtual supermarket wall is just one idea we are working on to make our customers’ lives easier," he said.   

"The virtual supermarket will be at Town Hall for a week and we will take feedback from customers throughout this time. This experience will provide us with important information on how we can develop this concept into the future."

The Woolworths virtual shopping trial is the latest manifestation of a move to use mobile devices interactively with billboards and display walls.

Last year Sydney-based firm The Creative Shop and street signage provider JCDecaux began placing interactive ads at bus stops, railway stations and street locations.

Their billboards invited customers to try out smartphone apps on screens in the street, while enormous 2.7m-long touch sensitive tables at shopping centres let customers find out information about products on sale.

Overseas virtual shopping displays let customers order goods after hours by tapping a transparent shop window screen.

Interactive ads also are opening the world of viral online marketing campaigns to street advertisers by letting people share product likes and dislikes with friends on social networks while at a bus stop shelter.


Comments on this story


    Aussie Pete Posted at 2:46 PM Today

        So, you go to the store, then use your phone to place an order, then leave empty handed and wait to have your groceries delivered, all the while paying for delivery (in addition to petrol for driving to the store in the first place not to mention time you've wasted) and hope they get your order right? And you still don't have dinner for tonight. No thanks. Besides, I've been shopping online with Coles for quite sometime now. Cheaper delivery, better service, plus they bring it all upstairs for me. Now THAT'S convenience. Did I mention cheaper delivery cost?   

    Confused Posted at 1:56 PM Today

        Wow, the trash food people will sell their trash food on mobile phone, that's quality.   

Agree.

Also, how can we justify all that 'stock' that isn't bought and goes to waste ...like all those depleting fish stocks that sit on the shelves where I'm pretty sure they only sell 15% before they are removed and binned. I wouldn't be surprised if 50% of all fish caught and killed ...don't even get consumed.

I knew a homeless fellow who was ratting in the big bin
at our local Coles for some food for himself and his dog.

They called the COPS on him, and tried to have him charged.

The cops sorted the situation, and he was not charged.

But yes, even though they've thrown it away, they still regard it
as stealing if you take it. Mind-boggling.......