Marketer confirms it is trialling automated merchandising units in three Chicago supermarkets to encourage shoppers to select its fruit
The robot from Del Monte says, “Hey, you. Yes, you. Grab a fresh banana before I eat it. Just kidding, I’m a robot. I can’t eat it.”
According to a report in the Chicago Tribune, the marketer has employed four automated units to sell its fruit in three Jewel-Osco supermarkets in the city.
Four feet tall, the cylindrical Servi Plus machines are designed to move around the stores’ fresh produce departments and encourage shoppers to select products from their built-in shelves.
The newspaper says the company is trialling the robots for a two-month period and will look to expand the programme if successful.
“We thought it’d be a good fit to try to merchandise produce at the retail level,” said Danny Dumas, senior vice-president at Fresh Del Monte.
“We decided to work with Jewel stores in Chicago to get a feel for how people would react to having a robot in the fresh produce department interacting with them and trying to sell fresh bananas, fresh pineapples.”
Early results are described as “very promising”, although a plan to use the units for pineapples as well apparently had to be curtailed because the fruit kept rolling off.
