Microsoft Will Stream Ads To Grocery Carts

dptalia writes "Later this year, at ShopRite supermarkets in the eastern US, Microsoft will be rolling out computerized shopping carts. These carts will allow people with a ShopRite card to enter their shopping list on the ShopRite site from home, and then pull up the list on their grocery cart when they swipe their card. The new carts will also display advertisements depending on where in the supermarket the cart is, using RFID technology to help locate it."

Comments

Baaaaahhaaah! Baaaahhh!

[seanadams.com]

I went to a Shell gas station a few months ago and they had 19" flat screen TVs above every pump, playing the news and running commercials at an ear piercing level. It was unbelievable. I left, and figured that was an idea that couldn't possibly last long. But lo and behold, just a few days ago I drove by and the damn place was PACKED with customers listening to that shit, half of them staring blankly at the telescreens because they can't stand for three damn minutes to be alone with their thoughts while their tank fills.

I thought the same thing about savings cards. YOU SAVED $18.43 MISTER LIVESTOCK! Surely people can not be this dumb, and this idea will fail... but no.

The vast majority of the population just eats this shit up. They actually read their junk mail. If it weren't for them you wouldn't get junk mail, because it wouldn't be worth mailing in the first place.

It is so sad. I do my part by avoiding these establishments, but I'm afraid it's not doing a damn bit of good.

Re:Baaaaahhaaah! Baaaahhh!

[Anonymous Coward]

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Amazes me, the shit that people will support. Give them a credit card and they'll buy their own golden cage and cheerfully lock themselves inside.

ObCaptcha: "Stress".

Re:Baaaaahhaaah! Baaaahhh!

[MichaelSmith]

I went to a Shell gas station a few months ago and they had 19" flat screen TVs above every pump, playing the news and running commercials at an ear piercing level. It was unbelievable. I left, and figured that was an idea that couldn't possibly last long. But lo and behold, just a few days ago I drove by and the damn place was PACKED with customers listening to that shit, half of them staring blankly at the telescreens because they can't stand for three damn minutes to be alone with their thoughts while their tank fills.

As a subscriber you are probably not aware that /. has started inserting banner ads after some posts.

Re:Baaaaahhaaah! Baaaahhh!

[Dirtside]

I do my part by avoiding these establishments, but I'm afraid it's not doing a damn bit of good.

The "damn bit of good" that you can do (and is easy) is to write pen-and-paper letters to those establishments explaining why you will not shop there. One person's letter usually won't thwart a multi-million dollar campaign, but it could be the straw that breaks the camel's back; and simply avoiding the establishment doesn't tell them why. That's the critical thing; avoiding a store for reasons you haven't explained to them doesn't help them change.

The best thing to do in such a letter is to be polite, precise, and calm. Insulting them or railing at them will just make them throw your letter away. Here's a sample letter, feel free to mangle it to your needs:

"I'm a long-time customer at Shell, and I almost always get my gas there (at your Main Street location in Los Santos) because it's so convenient for my drive to work. But ever since those flat-panel TVs have been installed out in the pump area, it's nearly unbearable to pump gas. Not only is the audio loud and distracting, but the TVs seem to cause people to take significantly longer to pump their gas (they just stand around staring at the TVs), meaning I end up waiting to get gas. As a result I've decided to start getting my gas at [insert local independent gas station here]. Maybe if the TVs are removed I might come back to Shell, but for now it's just not worth it.

Sincerely, Soandso"

And be sure you do this on PAPER, signed in pen, and mailed to their corporate headquarters. From a customer-service standpoint, this is the kind of letter companies tend to love, because 1) it's not insulting, rude, demanding, or insane; and 2) it provides actual useful feedback from actual customers. As a bonus, sometimes companies will send you free stuff, or gift certificates, or coupons, or whatever, usually worth more than the letter cost you to write and mail ;)

Re:Baaaaahhaaah! Baaaahhh!

[sporkme]

I would also add (to your letter) that you used to get your morning coffee, pack of cigarettes and package of decongestant there every morning as well. Profit margins on gasoline are actually surprisingly low; retail locations rely on those ridiculously marked-up impulse buys, mostly made by the morning/evening commuter. Prepay (pay inside, then pump) at gas stations was not instituted because a few jerk-offs gas-n-go. They want those cash customers in the selling environment! Either skip to the last paragraph for the point, or allow me to elaborate:

Mega chain retailers, gas stations included, rely on conformity to "plan-o-grams," actual required product placement blueprints, at which the minimum-wage dregs while away the hours in some attempt to conform. The aspirin goes near the coffee and next to the gum, because the hangover crowd will be there in the morning. Useless crap lead-containing toys are placed at knee-level next to the lines for the registers, because the little scamps will invariably demand the purchase of such items, just when impatient mommy has her wallet out--that is if the yuppie parents of said scamps have not left them in a still-running, unlocked car in an unattended parking lot. The tire gauges are near the motor oil, but just around the bend from the tampons; men buy them (both even), but single moms concerned about highway safety do as well. The expensive cigarette lighters are on the counter for easy theft, but the equally capable ones are behind it, hidden, where they are only stolen by employees. You practically trip over Red Bull and Coca-Cola on the way in, but god help you to find the generic cola. Just scratching the surface here, but you get my drift.

These plan-o-grams change frequently, as trends are explored and exploited. The monitors are another campaign in the impulse buy campaign, and I have only addressed gas (petrol) stations. I have multiple experiences as a retail manager, and as a gas station employee, and I am somewhat fascinated by these ploys.

Moving to other sellers, specifically electronics.... Next Christmas, or at any competitive sale time, closely examine the "loss leaders" employed by retailers. The idea is this: sell item X at near or below cost, knowing that it will trigger increased revenue from accessory items Y and Z, either instantly via the marketing miracle of "batteries not included" or continuously via "games sold separately." Barbies need outfits. Xboxen require games. My favorite, from my Radio $hack days, was to sell the remote control car at my cost exactly (which I revealed), so that I could easily demand that the poor sucker dad buy two rechargeable batteries (gotta have a spare, especially at well over 90% margin) and all the 9-volts he could carry (insane low cost, insane standard market price fixing), all the while coming out smelling like a rose. This is standard procedure, so you know the more devious schemes are way more insulting, such as video screens on your shopping cart.

As for grocery stores, we have always realized that kid cereal is on the bottom, bargain cereal is at waist level and receives limited shelf real estate, and that premium cereal is highlighted with "sale pricing" (also known as standard mark-up) and is at shoulder level, as far as the eye can see. Frankly, grocers endure painfully low profit margin percentages, but thankfully for them, humans cannot live without food (particularly for rural markets, the choke price for milk and bread can get pretty ridiculous). Closely examine the items in the advertisement from week to week. When ground beef is on sale, regularly priced hamburger buns are generously placed right in the meat market, with a slammin' pyramid of regularly priced ketchup and pickle slices opposing; lettuce and onions are not on special either. The same gas station methods are employed at the registers, and it is no accident that toys and school supplies come right after cereal, aisle-wise. You'll also notice t

Fucking spammers

[taustin]

If these fucking things make the slightest bit of noise, I swear I'm going to light it on fire, and start growing my own food.

Re:Fucking spammers

[MichaelSmith]

If these fucking things make the slightest bit of noise

With the volume up: Thank you for buying ansell condoms. People who purchased this product also bought...

Re:Fucking spammers

[nacturation]

With the volume up: Thank you for buying ansell condoms. People who purchased this product also bought... ... diapers, usually after about a nine month delay.

Speaking of that, when I initially glanced at the title I thought it read "Microsoft Will Stream Ass to Grocery Carts". I don't know whether to be relieved or disappointed.

oh great

[ILuvRamen]

So now when I put stump remover and sugar together on my list I gaurantee I'm gonna be put on some sort of terrorist list (cuz you can make a bomb out of that). Not to mention any other privacy concerns. I don't even want someone to so much as see my list before I get there. They'd have to password it. Then people forget their passwords. Or someone rigs it to record your password. Then you can't log in to your cart cuz the system is down and you have no idea what you were supposed to buy. I can only imagine how many rings of hell it would be to have Walmart employees support that high tech of a system.

If you don't like the ads...

[russotto]

...just pick the shopping card displaying the Blue Screen of Death.

Actually, given how shopping carts are treated (banged around the parking lot, slammed around by the cart-pushers, left in the rain, cleaned with a high-pressure hose), I suspect quite a few of these will be broken shortly after introduction.

what a great time to be homeless

[infonography]

Now you can have a shopping cart thats wired for the internet.

What is a grocery store?

[Seumas]

It's 2008 and people are still going to the store? Do people have so much disposable time and so little else they could do with many extra hours a month that they still go shopping in an actual store? Do they look forward so much to driving around, dealing with parking, shopping carts, lines, people, their bratty kids, aisles, noise and lugging things around?

It's 2008 and the big innovation is a shopping car that spams you while it directs you around a bunch of aisles essentially the same way we did in 1945, but with more targeted marking and shelving placement than ever? Really? That's the best we can do?

Maybe it's a generational thing, but I have not shopped in a grocery store in almost my entire adult life. The last time I went into a grocery store was 1999. I get my groceries delivered to me with the click of a button. I decide what time I want my groceries, they come to my door and carry them into my kitchen. I spend almost zero time involved in groceries. While this is probably only available in big cities like the bay area, Portland, Denver and others, this is something that should be both available *and* used everywhere by almost every one. You don't still go out and butcher or milk your own cow. You don't go out and pick your own oranges. So why wheel a cart around like some sort of trained monkey in a store full of fluorescent lights and elevator music and snotty whining kids grabbing things off the shelves and throwing tantrums in the middle of the aisle?

Hell, I haven't bought shoes in person or tools or entertainment in person in years, either. Except for rare instances involving things like my car that can't be otherwise addressed, I have reduced actual physical shopping to something I no longer "have" to do. For years, the only shopping I've had to do is that which I *choose* to do. Things that make it a luxury. Places and things that I can enjoy going to and shopping for (such as home entertainment stuff). I farm the crap shopping off to the wonderful services that Albertsons, Safeway, Kingsoopers and others now offer (and before that, Webvan, etc).

So that there's a new little attachment to a shopping car that more efficiently delivers shit to your eyeballs while supposedly easing up your shopping situation -- IN 2008 -- is the least impressive thing I've heard this year.

Re:What is a grocery store?

[Turn-X Alphonse]

Some people like to check the quality and pick produce themselves. I prefer shopping online too, but lets be honest, I don't know what I'm ordering exactly until it arrives, it could just as easily be poor quality as good.

Re:What is a grocery store?

[dlevitan]

Maybe it's a generational thing, but I have not shopped in a grocery store in almost my entire adult life. The last time I went into a grocery store was 1999. I get my groceries delivered to me with the click of a button. I decide what time I want my groceries, they come to my door and carry them into my kitchen. I spend almost zero time involved in groceries. While this is probably only available in big cities like the bay area, Portland, Denver and others, this is something that should be both available *and* used everywhere by almost every one. You don't still go out and butcher or milk your own cow. You don't go out and pick your own oranges. So why wheel a cart around like some sort of trained monkey in a store full of fluorescent lights and elevator music and snotty whining kids grabbing things off the shelves and throwing tantrums in the middle of the aisle? Then don't shop in traditional supermarkets. Yeah, I agree, they're annoying. But I very rarely go there. I do almost all of my shopping at Trader Joe's, the farmers markets, Whole Foods, and Costco. I doubt you can get stuff delivered from any those stores. Why do I actually take the time to shop at these places? First, quality products. I cook a lot, and I like cooking quality food. For that, you need fresh, quality ingredients. I'm not going to trust someone else to pick out the fruits, vegetables, and meats I use - I doubt they really care about the quality of the food. Second, cheap prices (for the most part). Trader Joe's has amazing products that cost very little. Costco forces you to buy in bulk, but they have very good products that are very cheap compared to most stores. In fact, oftentimes people say that some of the best foods can be found there. The farmers markets in my area (Los Angeles) have amazing deals on many fresh fruits and vegetables. I can buy 25 pounds of oranges for $10. Instead of drinking orange juice from the store, I now make fresh squeezed orange juice every day for almost the same price (just slightly higher than the sale prices of good bottled orange juice). And Whole Foods has a lot of really nice stuff that I can get at any of the other places and, while expensive, is of very high quality.

In short, if you care about what you eat, you need to find it yourself. You might not need to butcher the cow or catch the fish, but you need to be able to look at what's for same and decide if its good quality or not. I doubt what you get is any good.

Re:What is a grocery store?

[Quiet_Desperation]

I'm a guy.

Well, we guessed that.

Do you have a wife or a girlfriend? Ask her about women's clothing sizes, especially with everything being made in 97 different countries. One week's "Small" is next week's "Extra Large" and vice versa. Every women I've known gave up on mail order because they were retuning 4 out of 5 items, and it was steadily getting worse. For some reason men's clothes don't suffer the same variance. Only $INSERT_FAVORITE_DEITY knows why.

The problem is that you seem incapable civilly stating that you shop for groceries online and that it's the best thing since sliced bread. You seem incapable of not adding insults against anyone who still likes to shop at the store for a host of valid reasons. That might be why some people suggest you might wont more social interaction because, quite frankly, you really fucking suck at it.

A cookie fo your cookies

[cygtoad]

Hmm... Just what I always wanted.
So the shopping cart will beg me to buy something as I go near it.
My daughter already does this for me. I am good.

A typical Ad

[Alexx K]

It looks like you want to buy a loaf of bread. Would you like some help?

Want to get the best out of your bread? Visit the Windows Wheat Live web site today!

A better idea

[springbox]

Enter list online and have the cart calculate the shortest distance to each item in the store based on its current location

Re:My aren't you blowing high and mighty

[ZorbaTHut]

And it works, you fall for it too. How else do you know it was a SHELL gas station? If you were imune to it and not a sheep you would just tank at any gas station. (but without any advertising whatsoever, how would you know it is a gas station?) You obviously saw Shells adversting, yes even the sign that says Shell is part of advertising.

I did the same thing that the GP did, and the only reason I know it was a Shell station is because I explicitly checked once the ads started so I'd know which gas stations to avoid in the future. I wouldn't have known it was Shell if they hadn't made me care.

Goody

[Robber Baron]

Oh goody. Now I finally have a real good use for all those hard drive magnets I've been collecting.

THANK GOODNESS!

[glindsey]

Finally! I was getting sick of only experiencing advertisements on television, radio, newspapers, magazines, websites, video games, Tivo menus, Xbox 360 menus, Comcast guide screens, airplane TVs, billboards, T-shirts, sweatshirts, hoodies, movies, movie theater lobbies, stock cars, buses, bus stops, park benches, taxicabs, license plate holders, restrooms, posters on airport and train station walls, checkout lanes, grocery carts*, and shaved into the back of the occasional head.

Thank GOD somebody has found a way to exploit this obvious adver-hole in our lives. But this is only the beginning, dammit. I want my dishwasher to leave streaks on my dishes in the shape of a Whirlpool logo. Red traffic lights should be replaced with reminders that Goodyear tires would help you stop more quickly, and green with reminders to buy Amoco Ultimate gasoline. Each light bulb should cast the logo and name of a popular pharmaceutical against the floor, ceiling, or wall (talk to your doctor about it!). When I'm calling somebody on the phone, I shouldn't have to listen to some boring "ring" sound -- not when I could hear about the virtues of Domino's pizza! We must not rest until every single person is being sold something every second of every minute of every hour of every day from every square meter of the globe. Together, we can do it.

This message brought to you by The Association of National Advertisers. Raping your eyes and ears, over and over, and you can't stop it.(tm)

* Static photos already there -- obviously insufficient

Re:obligatory

[Divebus]

Whole new application for the term "Crash Cart".

Good Grief!

[deep_creek]

I thought Self-Checkout lanes were ridiculous... now this. The grocery store I mostly shop at has I think six Self-Checkout lanes. Very few folks use them. The "traffic monitors" are always trying to urge folks to go there, as there is no line. I might try one if I got a discount for it (passing the savings along to customers for not having staff, etc...), but what is the point as there is no discount or incentive? I'm a bit old fashioned I guess I want to be taken care of as a customer and fully use the services the store is providing for my convenience, not theirs!

Grocery list

[4D6963]

Customers with a ShopRite loyalty card will be able to log into a Web site at home and type in their grocery lists; when they get to the store and swipe their card on the MediaCart console, the list will appear.

..will appear on the screen for all to see, yay! I can't wait until people take peeks at my grocery list on my hi-tech shopping cart.

-Strawberries.. Check
-Whipped cream.. Check
-Cucumbers.. Check
-Whiskey.. Check
-Vaseline.. Check
-Bullwhip.. Check
-Laxative suppositories.. Check
-Making people who read my grocery list look embarrassed.. Check

Who?

[BradleyUffner]

It sounds to me like ShopRite is the one doing the streaming, not microsoft.

Theft

[lullabud]

These shopping carts are just asking to be stolen. It's widespread enough as it is that simple shopping carts go missing. Carts with gadgets? Hell yeah. Just wait until somebody finds a way to make them into a digital picture frame, then they'll all be missing.

Re:obligatory

[SpaceLifeForm]

You don't want it to run Linux.
Every BSOD rewards the shopper with free cart of groceries.
Shop early, shop often!
It's the new version of Supermarket Sweep

Oh, gawd...

[beadfulthings]

Have you not had adverts blaring at you while taking care of business in a public washroom? Or is that form of torture reserved for the female of the species, since we're confined to stalls while we're in there? Of course, the possibilities for wide-screen above a row of urinals do come to mind, so they'll get you eventually if they haven't already. First time I saw this was in the ladies' at a beachfront bar--actually a pretty respectable establishment--where they blared commercials for waterfront properties. That was a couple of years ago. Most recent sighting was a couple of months ago at a favorite Chinese restaurant in a city 200 miles inland. It gives new meaning to the term "captive audience."

Re:Oh, gawd...

[CodeBuster]

Of course, the possibilities for wide-screen above a row of urinals do come to mind, so they'll get you eventually if they haven't already I doubt it, for the simple reason that it is easier for us men to "target" (if you get my drift) the source of our annoyance (unless they mounted it really high up on the wall) for immediate destruction via electrolytic liquid. That and women are probably less likely to completely trash the washroom, write on the screen with a grease pencil, or take any number of other destructive actions against the furnishings and fixtures.

It's Only a Matter of Time

[Vengance Daemon]

When we in Qwest's area call a telephone number that is busy, we don't get a busy signal, we get an advertisement for us to dial a code and the system will call us back when the other line is free. This complex and highly difficult process only costs 95 cents! I wonder when we will pick up the phone and hear a cheery voice selling something instead of a dial tone. Maybe each button on the phone could speak a product name rather than sound one of the tones: My number would be Pepsi Ford Ford - Prilosec Zantec Lunesta Zantec.

The History of Computing in a Nutshell

[His Shadow]

Apple gives us the iPhone.

Microsoft gives us an annoying shopping cart.

Re:obligatory

[monomania]

I'm waiting to see the one rolling down the street pushed by a homeless person. "Where do you want to go today?"