Grocery Stores Using Robots to Fulfill Online Orders
With demand for grocery delivery growing, some stores are going high-tech to free up aisle space and lower operating costs. Consumer Reporter SUsan Hogan reports.
Clogged aisles at the supermarket aren’t what any of us want these days. A lot of the congestion comes from “order pickers,” a name used by the grocery industry for those who fulfill your online orders. With demand for online delivery growing, some major grocery chains are going high-tech to free up aisle space and lower operating costs.
“The consumer demand continues to build. COVID has changed people’s shopping patterns, but it has fast-forwarded digital adoption.”
Safeway is one of several grocery stores testing micro-fulfillment centers (MFC). In 2019, Albertsons launched the small-scale fulfillment centers at two Safeway supermarkets in the San Francisco Bay Area. The MFCs are located inside existing stores, often in the back. Customers have no idea they are there.
