For independent grocers and the wholesalers that serve them

Pan-Oston's Utopia Across America Tour: Route 1

Information

The Utopia Group and the N.G.A. have a fleet of Innovation centers traveling the country visiting independent grocers to demonstrate the latest in front-end technology.

Website: http://www.ngautopiaacrossamerica.com/
Location: Bowling Green, KY
Members: 17
Latest Activity: Aug 15, 2011

1 member likes this

Featured Retailer: Goodwin's Organics, Riverside, Calif.

Goodwin’s Organics, in Riverside, Calif., was built around the goal of making eating healthy easy, paring it down to one objective: eating an organic-only diet.

Referred to as a “Quality of Life Center,” by owner and IGN member Martin Goodwin, a third-generation grocer with three other, more traditional stores, It was supposed to be a tech lab in the form of a store, a handy way for Goodwin to test-run his proprietary point-of-sale (POS) system for prospective buyers. But thanks to the singular vision of its owner, the store instead became Goodwin’s Organic Foods & Drinks, a real-world experiment in simplifying the delivery of health and wellness to the consumer. (Incidentally, the POS system, IT Retail, is one of several in-store technologies showcased in Pan-Oston’s Utopia Across America Tour Buses.)

The store attempts to equip consumers with everything they need to accomplish this in a 10,000-square-foot store that offers organic solutions ranging from raw goods to a sit-down meal or takeout dinner. However, another commodity that Goodwin’s Organic Foods & Drinks delivers is inspiration, especially for those new to the pursuit of a healthy lifestyle.

“When it comes to ‘Vitalize Your Living,’ we really mean business,” says Goodwin, referring to the store’s slogan. “We’re really trying to help families to be more healthy, in an easy way — just by eating, which leads to a healthy, more productive, and better quality of life. We’ve seen where the pharmaceutical industry has failed – prescriptions don’t take care of everything.”

And just as he believes the right food is important for good health, he believes the right social environment helps, too – and he provides that environment to local students in the form of an inside student lounge with tables and couches, and in four outdoor patios – with free Wi-Fi all around.

His latest technology challenge has been finding the right online tools to help educate his shoppers on healthy living. To do this, he’s moving from a traditional website to more social media related tools, including the WordPress blogging platform for more robust content capabilities, Survey Monkey to learn more about his customers, as well as participating in other traditional social media platfotms.

His latest success is his latest version of IT Retail, which he continues to use for slicing and dicing his valuable customer data for all kinds of micro-target marketing. “We know which 100 customers are responsible for 25 percent of our business, and which 300 customers make up most of the remaining 75 percent,” he says. “We’re triggering coupons based on how valuable these shoppers are to our business. Just by doing this, our gross increased 40 percent last year.”

To see IT Retail in action, sign up for a visit by the Pan Oston’s Mobile Innovation Center by clicking the link below.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER AND HAVE A MOBILE INNOVATION CENTER VISIT YOUR STORE!

2011 TOUR DATES

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RETAIL TECHNOLOGY WHITE PAPERS AND RESOURCES

Discussion Forum

What's Your Biggest Checkstand Challenge?

Started by Joseph Tarnowski Feb 4, 2011. 0 Replies 0 Likes

The front end checkstand is a critical area of every grocer's store; not only is it the one department visited by every customer, but it's the last impression shoppers have of your store. What front…Continue

Tags: checkout, self-checkout, POS, point of sale, checkstand

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Comment by Stanley N. Keown on May 26, 2011 at 11:07am: On 5/19/11 we took RV1 to Save a Lot corporate office in Earth City, MO. Their was 12 associates that attended our presentation. We showed the cash handling lane along with SCO and how each lane could help benefit their business. We demonstrated how Lane Hawk and Scan Cam help eleminate sweethearting and bottom of basket losses. They were so impressed with how the Lane Hawk could take a visual image of the product by letting them know that there was items in the BOB and by not letting them total the receipt until the items were acknowledged. The largest attraction was how efficient the BNR could be to their bottomline and less cash handling by a cashier. They commented by saying that there is no room for error when handling cash and by eliminating more hands on cash that would help eliminate more chance of error. The Tobacco cabinet, Happy Bell and Shop Hear were presented. We showed how C Flex and C Series could be integrated into a customer service counter by the appealing versatility. Very good group with alot of Q&A.

Comment by Stanley N. Keown on May 26, 2011 at 10:33am: We took RV1 to Walt's Food Center in Homewood, IL. The audience was excited to learn about the cash handling lane and it's features. We showed how the BNR can be one of the biggest opportunities to increase their bottomline by demonstrating how efficient and how it will help elimanate such a high float for each till. They saw how Lane Hawk and Scan Cam can reduce bottom of basket losses and sweethearting. The interest of each item brought Q&A and each answer to there question excelerated the presentation by interaction of the items. This was a very excited group after our presentation and it was a great pleasure to meet with such enjoyable owners.

Comment by Stanley N. Keown on May 23, 2011 at 10:43am: On 5/16/11 we took RV1 to Omaha, NE. to visit with Anthony International. We discussed the cash handling and all of the features. The We showed how the BNR can be one of the retailers biggest opportunities by increasing their bottomline through efficiencies. We had also showed how C Series and C Flex can be integrated into a customer service counter or beverage counter.

Comment by Jeff Robinson on May 12, 2011 at 5:47pm: RV 1 met with a few members of the No Frills Supermarkets team today in Omaha, NE. No Frills has been using self-checkouts in their stores for several years and has seen a great deal of success with them. They have also had LaneHawk installed in their checkout lanes for over a year and have seen very good results from it as well. Today we showed them how ScanCam can reduce their losses even more!

Comment by Jeff Robinson on May 11, 2011 at 5:53pm: RV 1 made a stop at Jim's Foodmart in Aurora, NE today. Jim's Foodmart is part of the Aurora Mall. The Aurora Mall is a single store made up of Jim's Foodmart, Heritage Bank, Ace Hardware, and Subway. Aurora Mall is a one-stop independently-owned store that supplies all needs.

Comment by Jeff Robinson on May 10, 2011 at 8:46pm: Today RV 1 stopped at Country Mart in Butler, MO. Butler residents are very lucky to have such a nice store in their community!

Comment by Jeff Robinson on May 9, 2011 at 7:26pm: RV 1 started the week off by meeting with the Sunfresh team in Kansas City, KS. The store we visited is in a very nice shopping center with such a great atmosphere. We had many great discussions with the Sunfresh team concerning the benefits of self-checkout and cash handling in grocery stores. So many of the things that they are currently experiencing in their stores reinforced the messages that we are delivering to grocers on tour.

Comment by Jeff Robinson on May 5, 2011 at 9:40pm: RV 1 visited with a large group of the Alco team in Abeline, KS today. Alco has 215 stores. It was a pleasure to meet and talk with this group . Cash handling was once again one of the main topics discussed. The Alco team was very excited to see the ways the Pan-Oston Cash Handling lane reduces shrink.

We have really enjoyed the beautiful landscape in southern Kansas today!

Comment by Jeff Robinson on May 4, 2011 at 9:59pm: From Checotah, RV 1 made the pleasant drive up to Doc's Country Mart in Bixby, OK. We saw very nice looking Pan-Oston Vantage chechout lanes in the store's front end! Doc's Country Mart is a very nice grocery store! The Doc's team really seems to grasp the benefits of the latest technology that is available today.

Comment by Jeff Robinson on May 4, 2011 at 9:48pm: RV 1 stopped at Nichol's Dollar Saver in Checotah, OK this morning. We had a lot of great discussion concerning cash handling in grocery stores. Everyone agreed that the ability to reduce the cash responsibility of the cashier gives huge benefits to the store's bottom line.