Your grandmother’s grocery store is amid an age of renewal.
First, did you see a recent story from the Associated Press about merchandise panels–which I typically relate to shopping malls–which are slowly being outfitted with cameras to track your movements?
The next time you enter a mall, health club, gym, or supermarket, pay attention to LCD screens with ads, which may be using technology called face-based audience measurement to track your gender with an accuracy of 90 percent.
Imagine selected items in your cart are also seen by the hidden camera. Eeriness aside, if you’re a woman and you always buy milk, eggs, and butter by certain manufacturers, wouldn’t it be effective merchandising on behalf of the company to save you time and stock gender-friendly items in same place?
Second, organic chicken distributor Springer Mountain Farms recognizes its target demographic of thirty-something women aren’t reading the printed Sunday newspaper as much today as in years past, so the company has reduced the printing of its coupons.
Instead, they’re promoting the company through cellphones–free ringtones, coupons, and other mobile-friendly opt-in advertising.
Third, there is the two-year-old CBS-TV story of a supermarket outside Berlin, Germany which was renovated to cater specifically to senior citizens–complete with magnifying glasses attached to carts, bright lights, wide aisles, and step stools.
Have a watch:
Thanks to Dick Stroud for the video tip.
The trend is catchy. Newcastle, England is planning a similar supermarket model for what the Brits call “pensioners.”
Kudos to supermarkets–and their manufacturers, advertisers, and designers–for paying attention to the customer. That’s you.
What else would you like your grandmother’s grocery store to do to grow up?
Photo credit: bredgur
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Ari Herzog is an online media strategist and Newburyport City Councilor-Elect.
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That’s a great idea for the elderly. Although, I frequently have elderly people come up to me for assistance in reading labels and finding products – I would miss out on meeting them. I guess, self-sufficiency is important though …
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Reinventing the Supermarket: Proactive Merchandising, Mobile Marketing, and Age-Friendly Aisles [link to post] @AriWriter
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Cannot find Wholefood on Twitter – want to share @ariherzog post [link to post] Please Wholefood add glasses to the isles
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I think they need a play area with babysitters in the grocery store so that the moms can drop off their kids and do their shopping without hearing “MOMMY! MOMMY! MOMMY! I WANT! I WANT! I WANT! I WANT!” all the time while shopping.
I’m not even a mom but I think this would be good for both them and people like me who can’t go to the grocery store without getting headaches from kids like that.
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@Wholefoods please add glasses to the isles xee @ariherzog post [link to post]
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Great post, and yes, exactly what I was trying to get at. The availability of data coupled with asking the “where do we reach our customers” provides more opportunities to micro-target advertising. Using a laser instead of a shotgun approach to marketing allows companies to zero in on where the best, most effective dollars are spent.
Thanks for the link, and for listening to the presentation!
Jen
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I like the analogy of laser to shotgun.
Interesting…Definitely glad you provided a link here Ari
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