Online Meets In-Store at Fresh Thyme Market

Shoppers at Fresh Thyme Market will soon have a new way to access information about the natural living products available in-store. The Downers Grove, Ill.-based grocer is adding IX-ONE enabled ELI Codes to its shelf tags to allow customers and employees to access product content at the shelf, by scanning a QR code with their smartphones.

Fresh Thyme says it plans to add the ELI Codes (enhanced, product based QR codes) to its natural living department shelf tags in the beginning of November 2020. ELI Codes, when scanned by a smartphone, will display product information including content from the IX-ONE product data and image exchange.

ELI Codes are based on QR code technology and can be read by most modern smartphones without requiring an app, according to The Data Council (IX-ONE) by Cornerstone for Natural, a business management software solutions provider partnering with Fresh Thyme. Grocery suppliers are requested to work directly with Cornerstone for Natural to enhance the content displayed by upgrading their ELI Codes to include videos, PDF files, images, URL links and more.

“By adding ELI Codes to our shelf tags, we will be helping our shoppers make better informed buying decisions in-store, while allowing our supplier partners to provide digital content to best present their products to our shoppers,” said Jonathan Lawrence, Fresh Thyme’s senior director of grocery and natural living, in a statement.

Fresh Thyme’s staff also will use ELI Codes to learn more about the products they sell and better explain those products and their benefits to shoppers.

“We are excited to see Fresh Thyme leading the charge to enhance the in-store shopper experience at retail,” said David Williams, Cornerstone’s EVP of business development, in a release. “Fresh Thyme is providing an online-type shopping experience in-store. This is a game changer.”

Cornerstone for Natural, a division of Cornerstone Consulting, Inc., offers its ELI Code Technology to assist its clients in communicating product details. Meanwhile its modular business management software systems help clients be more efficient, productive and profitable by connecting, integrating, tracking and reporting on all aspects of their business operations, says the company. The Data Council (IX-ONE), is a division of Advantage Solutions, a provider of customizable and technology-enabled sales and marketing solutions.