COVID changed grocery shopping. Customers cut stores of choice, changed shopping days, shifted browsing to rushing, and moved from favorite brand to any brand. Stores faced stock-outs, hoarding, safety concerns, on-line shopping, bulk buying, meat shortages, and closure of food bars. Tight margins are now tighter.
Stores now use many strategies – senior hours, one way aisles, capacity limits, one-in-one-out, plexiglass, new cleaning regimens and mask mandates. Wegmans used to pamper customers with cooking demos, movies, restaurants, lavish food bars, free samples. They changed course. In-house chefs work registers, run sanitation, manage carts. Security guards watch over stores. Cashiers wipe belts after each sale. Bulk items have increased. Self-serve is now pre-packed. Trucks go to warehouses more often if needed.
MOSIMTEC simulation models can help grocery stores test and visualize options — floor layouts, traffic flows, staffing allocations, supply chains, and ways to reduce cost and improve efficiency. For a retailer, MOSIMTEC simulated robots, racking stations, picking workstations, and control software to pick up grocery orders at supercenter stores to enhance turnaround times. Technology lights the way. MOSIMTEC is here to help.
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