ShopRite Goes Contactless With Pickup Pods

ShopRite, part of the Keasbey, N.J.-based Wakefern Food Corp., recently became the first grocer on the East Coast to unveil the new QuickCollect Go Pod, where shoppers can pick up their online ShopRite grocery orders from a temperature-controlled outdoor pickup pod featuring robotic automation for a fast, contactless self-service pickup experience.

The QuickCollect Go Pod retrieval system can hold ambient, refrigerated and frozen foods for an entire order, keeping customers’ orders secure until they are retrieved with a unique QR code. The first totes start dispensing to the guest in under one minute, reducing the wait time for customers picking up their online orders. The free-standing pod is now available at the ShopRite of New Rochelle at 8 Palmer Ave., New Rochelle, N.Y.

“The QuickCollect Go Pod will make it even easier for our shoppers at the New Rochelle store to pick up their online orders,” said Steve Savas, president of Shop-Rite Supermarkets Inc. (SRS), in a release. “It’s self-checkout and pickup for online orders that’s done right outside the store.” SRS operates ShopRite stores in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and the Hudson Valley and Capital Region in New York.

Developed by Bell and Howell, which has also provided automated e-commerce pickup solutions for Albertsons Cos.’ Jewel stores in Chicago and select Safeway stores in the Bay Area, the QuickCollect Go Pod uses next-generation automation and intelligent software to ready orders placed at shoprite.com for pickup. When items are ready, customers receive a text containing a QR code to scan on the console screen, which brings the order to the customer pickup portal, allowing them to access their preordered groceries. The intuitive interface and consumer-focused designs facilitate contactless, fast and easy experiences, the company said.

“Retailers like ShopRite recognize that consumer convenience and fulfillment efficiency are critical to the next level of e-commerce,” said Larry Blue, president and CEO of Bell and Howell. “Our data shows that consumers enjoy the convenience of this new individual automated curbside pickup with our QuickCollect Go Pod.”