what now for woolworths?, page-49

What now for Woolworths? I'd like to see some technological innovation in the supermarkets, since each player is basically fighting over the same end-result; selling their groceries to consumers. Online shopping and delivery is great if you want to pay the markup and wait at home for a delivery truck. There's also a barrier to people trying it for the first time (fear of the unknown).

Warehouses are highly automated these days, so it's a wonder that a supermarket hasn't created a drive-through pickup scenario? I'm imagining a warehouse with robots picking and packing your online order (e.g. Amazon) and sending you a message when it's ready to collect. You then either pay online and get a verification code or "pay at the first window", then drive through a pickup lane where a store employee loads your order in your boot. Those employees that help with the payment and loading the groceries in your car would be the only humans actually required. The stock inventory and re-ordering, picking/packing and payment would all be automated, even to the point where it could run 24/7 without staff if your groceries were instead packed into coded "lockers", ready for collection.

The only con I can see is with perishable items - fruit/veg/meat and deli items are so unique that if a robot is picking them, they're not going to match people's personal preferences. Maybe you could choose to select each of those over a webcam feed on the available stock in the warehouse first?