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BLOOM'S SHOPPER-CENTRIC SYSTEMS MARKED BY SPIRIT OF INQUIRY

Recently, I visited Food Lion's new Bloom store, which opened in Charlotte, N.C., on May 26. I came away impressed -- not only with the store's approach to selling food, but with the way it's using technology.As SN has previously reported, and as is detailed in this week's Technology & Logistics section beginning on Page 46, Food Lion is deploying a diverse array of in-store systems in Bloom. Some

Recently, I visited Food Lion's new Bloom store, which opened in Charlotte, N.C., on May 26. I came away impressed -- not only with the store's approach to selling food, but with the way it's using technology.

As SN has previously reported, and as is detailed in this week's Technology & Logistics section beginning on Page 46, Food Lion is deploying a diverse array of in-store systems in Bloom. Some of them, notably the Personal Scanner, have rarely been seen in U.S. supermarkets.

Indeed, it may be that the Bloom store has more technology-based applications under one roof, especially those that interface with consumers, than any other supermarket in the United States. In many ways, Bloom is reminiscent of Metro Group's remarkable Future Store in Rheinberg, Germany.

Yet there are some fundamental differences in the way Food Lion is approaching Bloom and what the Future Store is doing. For one thing, in Bloom, Food Lion is trying something often discussed, but rarely practiced, in food retailing: using technology for the express purpose of improving the consumer experience.

For example, since shoppers' biggest complaint about food shopping is the checkout experience -- waiting on line; unloading products so they can be scanned and reloaded into the cart -- Bloom offers shoppers an alternative: the Personal Scanner.

With the Personal Scanner, shoppers scan and bag as they shop. When it's time to check out, they only need to pay (and that may ultimately be streamlined as well). They can end their trip at a conventional checkout lane or a self-checkout lane.

The Personal Scanner has seen considerable usage in Europe, but until this year, it has never caught on in the United States. Now Albertsons is testing it along with Food Lion. Besides the Personal Scanner, Bloom offers shoppers eight information kiosks where they can scan products or locate them on a store map; a highly sophisticated wine and spirits kiosk and meat recipe kiosk; and a produce scale that generates bar codes, among other applications. They all have one common theme: making shopping easier for consumers.

Just as intriguing as what Bloom offers is what it does not offer, notably loyalty cards. Aren't loyalty cards consumer-friendly? Food Lion has a card program in its 1,200 conventional stores, but the chain wants to test its value to consumers by starting out Bloom card-free and seeing what shoppers think. Cards can always be added later.

The absence of loyalty cards is an example of what most impresses me about Bloom's approach to technology: its spirit of inquiry. There are eight information kiosks, but that could be reduced to four or two, or increased to 10. There are 48 personal scanners, but that could change. One of the other four Bloom stores opening later this year won't have the personal scanner, just to see how it compares to the stores that have it.

"We're passionate about not assuming anything," said Susie McIntosh-Hinson, Bloom's concept creator of information technology.

Judging in-store technology by what makes the consumer's shopping experience better -- and basing that judgment on the evidence, whatever it turns out to be -- strikes me as a pretty smart way to use technology. It could help Bloom blossom for Food Lion.