Albertsons has made great strides with digital and, as a result, has seen stellar growth during the pandemic. Lockers and kiosks makes a lot of sense as they reduce friction for the customer and can help with things like wait times. In essence, there isn’t a single solution to grocery fulfillment: there will be an ecosystem of options to suit different customer needs.

As much as Albertsons has done a sound job on digital, I remain underwhelmed by most of their stores which are in dire need of investment – especially some of the older Safeway locations. Ranges and pricing are also below par and I think a lot of work is needed to bring the whole proportion up to scratch.

That’s important because while it is easy to grow during a pandemic when people are buying more groceries and household products, the challenge is to maintain growth as we enter a more normalized period.

The pace of innovation is on at a breakneck speed. That is very impressive. 20 years prior to the pandemic, the in-store innovation and experience was almost stagnant. Having said that, I feel like the pendulum has swung wildly to the other side.

In an effort to catch consumers wherever they can, it is possible that the grocery chains could be stretching themselves thin. Some of these innovations may not make it to full roll out. Overall, a very welcome initiative. But it’s too early to tell if this gives any meaningful competitive advantage.

I think Albertsons is a little late to the game but they have also realized that they need to move on frictionless transactions to be able to compete with the major retailers who are already there. I just hope they can test and scale at a quick pace so they don’t lose customers to the others that are doing this.

This is a great initiative by Albertsons. They have to keep up with Walmart and stay ahead of others to gain market share and this sort of customer-focused initiative is exactly what they should be doing. Making shopping easier and, at the moment, safer for the consumer is top of mind and will gain loyalty. If it really gets hold they may have volume problems, but it is the right move. They still have to get the basics right as well – high availability and good pricing. Any amount of technology will not replace efficient supply chains delivering the right product to the consumer. This does add another layer of the seamless shopping that people are looking for right now. It will be interesting to see how long they pilot for and then how quickly they can roll it out.

Anything that makes it easier for customers to receive products and support digital commerce is a good thing. This strategy worked very well for Home Depot, and Walmart has been successful with it in some markets, so I expect it will do well for Albertsons as well. Long term? I see this as a bridge to the time home delivery scales and/or there are “stores” that are designed to support drive through pickup at scale.

For Albertsons to be pioneering this effort is exciting. The combination of mobile, data, logistics, robotics, and more are an exciting trend. More valuable is the contactless nature of the engagement, truly offering a step up for omnichannel curbside pickup. For regular Albertsons shoppers, or those shopping for someone else via Instacart solutions, this is a solid play. Albertsons has an opportunity to catch up with tested tech and process. Their existing physical presence will amplify their digital efforts.

Sorry – I’m underwhelmed by this unless it is way less expensive than someone bringing the order out to your car. Frictionless does not mean accurate or complete and I’ve argued before that in the absence of friction, the retailer gives up the opportunity to make a good impression and/or an additional sale.

Without being in their ecosystem it is hard to say. Knowing that they have a test and learn mindset and seeing them act on it signals that they are taking omnichannel seriously.

The kiosk idea, piloted by Walmart over two years ago seems like it could make sense for smaller orders. Giving shoppers choice is smart and if I just want to grab a few things but don’t want to go into the store, nor wait to call an associate, then there could be adoption. But as delivery grows, at some point, something will get squeezed out, probably kiosks.

The physical presence should be focused on the fresh, prepared meals, alcohol, and dine-in concepts sides. The more rote elements go back of house for in-store pickup or to direct-to-home fulfillment.

I will give them an “A” because this is what must be done.

But “supercharge” is a bit of a hyperbole. Retailers in China have been doing this and more for years.

I’m not a big fan of pickup kiosks for grocery but they can partially solve the “order staging” problem that supermarkets face when implementing store-picked fulfillment: Once the order is assembled and ready for pickup, where do you hold it until the shopper arrives? Existing supermarkets are not laid out with this activity in mind.
Use of kiosks adds a handling step – moving the orders out of the building and into the device. This seemed clumsy to me when Walmart tested it a couple of years ago and I expect it will be clumsy for Albertsons too. But adding a temperature-controlled staging area inside existing stores is clumsy too.

Every company who has focused on (and implemented) omnichannel deserves kudos. They are understanding, even if it’s late, that this is the future of commerce. However, there are some drawbacks to this model: 1) There isn’t a chance for the customer to check on replacement items/swaps. 2) It isn’t totally frictionless, because the customer has to load the groceries. Most of my pick up experiences, they even load them into my car, which I appreciate.

However, as grocery delivery gets more crowded (and sometimes delivery isn’t even available same day), I can see this model working well.