Albertsons announced today that it has partnered with location-sharing technology startup Glympse to give shoppers real-time status updates on their delivery or at-store pickup orders.
The service is available now on delivery orders placed directly through Albertsons, Safeway, Jewel-Osco, Vons, Randalls, Tom Thumb, and Pavilions (the Glympse function does not work for Instacart orders).
From the press release:
When customers are finishing their delivery order with an Albertsons Cos. store, they can now opt-in to notifications powered by Glympse via text or email that provide key updates throughout the fulfillment process. Once their order is en route, they will receive a link to a live map of their delivery truck and exact time of delivery.
Starting in spring of this year, Albertsons will also begin piloting Glympse for its “Drive Up & Go” (curbside pickup) markets, which will notify customers when an order is ready. A customer can share their location with the Albertsons store so an employee can bring the groceries out right as the customer arrives. Drive Up & Go is currently available at 250 Albertsons locations, and will be expanding throughout the year.
Convenience is the name of the game in grocery these days, as all the key players are implementing new services to speed up your shopping. In addition to its Glympse deal, Albertsons is also piloting a program with Takeoff to build automated micro-fulfillment centers in the back of some grocery stores. Combined, Glympse and Takeoff tech could allow customers to place an online order, have it fulfilled in as little as a half hour (because robots), with notifications between Albertsons and the customer coordinating pick up or delivery at the most convenient time.
Albertsons isn’t alone in upping the convenience ante. Kroger is testing self-driving delivery vehicles and building robotic fulfillment warehouses. Ahold Delhaize is building out Takeoff centers also, as well as piloting mobile commerce with Robomart, which is basically a bodega on wheels at your beck and call. And, well, lord knows what Amazon is up to between potentially building their own grocery stores, rolling out delivery robots and special package retrieval robots that would live at your house.
Glympse isn’t as big a deal as self-driving robots, but it’s all of a piece to create the most seamless and convenient shopping experience for customers. We will definitely find out more about Albertsons’ grand plans when Narayan Iyengar, SVP, eCommerce & Digital at Albertsons takes the stage at our upcoming ArticulATE conference in San Francisco on April 16th. Get your ticket today to be a part of the conversation.
Leave a Reply