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Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Grocery store ‘smart shelves’ will target consumers in real-time based on their facial features

AFP Photo/Lionel Bonaventure

Going to the grocery store is about to get a lot more personal: one of the biggest names in food is preparing to launch “smart shelves” to gather intelligence on consumers and customize their shopping experience.

Mondelēz International, the parent company of Kraft Foods, plans on having their space-age smart shelves rolled out on supermarket floors sometime in 2015. And if all goes as planned, soon after the multi-national corporation behind products such as Chips Ahoy, Oreo, Wheat Thins and Ritz will begin collecting analytics about impulse buys and learn new ways to bring customers the products they crave.

The devices — still in development — will rely on high-tech sensors to snoop in on the facial features of shoppers and predict roughly their age and sex. From there, a database of intelligence can be matched in real-time and allow Mondelēz to make recommendations, offer discounts and practically any other imaginable option. All, of course, specific to how the company’s data perceives that type of customer.

“Knowing that a consumer is showing interest in the product gives us the opportunity to engage with them in real-time,” Mondelēz CIO Mark Dajani told the Wall Street Journal recently.

Speaking to the Journal’s Clint Boulton, Dajani described how customizing what each consumer sees offers an array of new opportunities to the retailer.

“When people walk by, it’s a missed opportunity,” Dajani told the paper. “We must know how the consumer behaves in the store.”

And by relying on behavior and not identity, Dajani has had an easier time than one might imagine distancing the smart shelves from any sort of surveillance tool that actually identifies its subjects. Mondelēz’s product won’t involve cameras at all, instead prefering sensors to shape together the likely age and sex, according to the Journal, and matching that information about what the company already knows.

“The sensors use this data to alert the display to feature something that a teenage boy is more likely to buy, such as gum or a chocolate bar,” Boulton wrote. “The shelves also use sensors based on Microsoft Corp.’s gesture-based Kinect for Windows technology and if the boy looks at the shelf long enough, the shelf’s display may play a video targeted for his demographic.”

Those shelves, he added, will be more than just forward-facing interfaces to engage the customer. Weights sensors will reveal when products are picked up, and that information could also alert the grocer that its time to re-order — or re-think their inventory.

Boulton reported that the company may consider implementing data already stored in the enterprise database system it already has, and said no personally identifiable information will be collected about any customer caught shopping by the smart shelves’ sensors.

The end result, some hope, could be quite lucrative.

Dajani described the smart shelves as just the latest opportunity to connect another item to the ever-growing “Internet of Things” concept, essentially paving the way for anything imaginable to be wired to an information network. RawStory reporter Travis Gettys drew a correlation between Boulton’s article and another recent story in the Journal about a Gartner Inc. report which determined the technology being developed for smart shelves and similar products could generate $ 1.9 trillion by 2020.

Source: RT

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Grocery store ‘smart shelves’ will target consumers in real-time based on their facial features

Monday, October 14, 2013

Walmart EBT Card Food Stamps Glitch Clears Stores" Shelves

Shoppers cleared the shelves at two Louisiana Walmart stores over the weekend when a glitch in the government’s Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) system allowed welfare recipients to use their debit-style food stamps cards to buy unlimited goods without the usual spending cap.

Managers at Walmart stores in Mansfield and Springhill, La., were forced to call police Saturday after people realized the glitch in the EBT system and rushed to load up carts with as many items as they could carry, CBS affiliate KSLA reported.

“It was worse than any black Friday,” Springhill Police Chief Will Lynd said of the frenzied shopping scene.

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The glitch, which was reportedly caused during a routine maintenance test by EBT card servicer Xerox Corp., made it so cashiers could not view card limits, allowing customers the ability to spend limitlessly.

“We did make the decision to continue to accept EBT cards during the outage so that they could get food for their families,” Walmart representative Kayla Whaling told KSLA. She claimed that Walmart was “fully engaged and monitoring the situation and transactions during the outage.”

The system began working properly around 9 p.m. Saturday, leading people to abandon their overflowing shopping carts in the aisles.

When the system got back online, one woman had just rung up a $ 700 bill at the register and was turned away because she only had a balance of $ 0.49 on her card, Lynd said.

The same EBT card glitch caused just the opposite problem for shoppers in 17 other states over the weekend when their cards wouldn’t go through, according to USA Today.

U.S. Department of Agriculture spokeswoman Courtney Rowe emphasized that the outage was not related to the federal government shutdown.

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Walmart EBT Card Food Stamps Glitch Clears Stores" Shelves

Wal-Mart Shelves Cleared During Food Stamp Card "Glitch"

KSLA News 12 Shreveport, Louisiana News Weather

MANSFIELD, LA (KSLA-TV) – Shelves in Walmart stores in Springhill and Mansfield, LA were reportedly cleared Saturday night, when the stores allowed purchases on EBT cards even though they were not showing limits.

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Wal-Mart Shelves Cleared During Food Stamp Card "Glitch"

WALMART SHELVES CLEARED DURING FOOD STAMP PANIC

MANSFIELD, LA (KSLA) -

Shelves in Walmart stores in Springhill and Mansfield, LA were reportedly cleared Saturday night, when the stores allowed purchases on EBT cards even though they were not showing limits.

The chaos that followed ultimately required intervention from local police, and left behind numerous carts filled to overflowing, apparently abandoned when the glitch-spurred shopping frenzy ended.

Springhill Police Chief Will Lynd confirms they were called in to help the employees at Walmart because there were so many people clearing off the shelves. He says Walmart was so packed, “It was worse than any black Friday” that he’s ever seen.

Lynd explained the cards weren’t showing limits and they called corporate Walmart, whose spokesman said to let the people use the cards anyway. From 7 to 9 p.m., people were loading up their carts, but when the cards began showing limits again around 9, one woman was detained because she rang up a bill of $ 700.00 and only had .49 on her card. She was held by police until corporate Walmart said they wouldn’t press charges if she left the food.

Lynd says at 9 p.m., when the cards came back online and it was announced over the loud speaker, people just left their carts full of food in the aisles and left.

“Just about everything is gone, I’ve never seen it in that condition,” said Mansfield Walmart customer Anthony Fuller.

Walmart employees could still be seen putting food from the carts away as late as Sunday afternoon. “I was just thinking, I’m so glad my mom doesn’t work here [Walmart] anymore, that’s the only thing I could think about, those employees working, that would have to restock all that stuff,” said O.J Evans who took cell phone video of the overflowing shopping carts at the Mansfield Walmart.

Evans believes it was natural human reaction that led people to fill up their carts during the glitch, but Walmart shoppers Stan and Judy Garcia feel very differently. ”That’s plain theft, that’s stealing that’s all I got to say about it,” said Garcia.

Lynd says contrary to rumors, nobody was unruly or arrested and they were mainly there to help prevent shoplifting and theft.

A dispatcher for Mansfield police also confirms officers were called in for crowd control at the Mansfield Walmart. She said the shelves were cleared out, forcing Walmart to stop selling food at 9 p.m. There were no arrests.

There was, however, a huge mess left behind. Pictures and videos obtained by KSLA News 12 show aisles packed with shoppers emptying the shelves in Springhill. Another video shows what appear to be at least dozens of overflowing carts left abandoned in the aisles at the Mansfield store, against the backdrop of emptied shelves in the meat department.

It all happened at the end of a day in which the EBT system went down in several states, including Louisiana. Xerox, a vendor for the EBT system, experienced a power outage while conducting a routine backup test in one of the company’s locations. While the system was back up Saturday night, it appears that it was not functioning entirely properly in some areas.

Kayla Whaling, a spokesperson for Walmart, tells KSLA News 12 that the company was “fully engaged and monitoring the situation and transactions during the outage.”

“We did make the decision to continue to accept EBT cards (and purchases on WIC and SNAP) during the outage so that they could get food for their families.”

Asked whether Walmart would be taking the loss on any food purchased on the cards that did not show limits, or on the perishable food left behind in carts, Whaling would only say that “we monitored transactions during the outage.”

A spokesperson for the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services says they take all allegations of potential fraud seriously, they are aware of the reports and they will be investigating.

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WALMART SHELVES CLEARED DURING FOOD STAMP PANIC

Food stamp recipients empty Walmart shelves during system glitch

Some Walmart stores in Louisiana allowed food stamp recipients to shop despite the fact that the computer system was down and it was impossible to know how much in benefits the shopper could access.

The result – unbelievable:

Shelves in Walmart stores in Springhill and Mansfield, LA were reportedly cleared Saturday night, when the stores allowed purchases on EBT cards even though they were not showing limits.

The chaos that followed ultimately required intervention from local police, and left behind numerous carts filled to overflowing, apparently abandoned when the glitch-spurred shopping frenzy ended.

Springhill Police Chief Will Lynd confirms they were called in to help the employees at Walmart because there were so many people clearing off the shelves. He says Walmart was so packed, “It was worse than any black Friday” that he’s ever seen.

Lynd explained the cards weren’t showing limits and they called corporate Walmart, whose spokesman said to let the people use the cards anyway. From 7 to 9 p.m., people were loading up their carts, but when the cards began showing limits again around 9, one woman was detained because she rang up a bill of $ 700.00 and only had .49 on her card. She was held by police until corporate Walmart said they wouldn’t press charges if she left the food.

Lynd says at 9 p.m., when the cards came back online and it was announced over the loud speaker, people just left their carts full of food in the aisles and left.

“Just about everything is gone, I’ve never seen it in that condition,” said Mansfield Walmart customer Anthony Fuller.

Walmart employees could still be seen putting food from the carts away as late as Sunday afternoon. “I was just thinking, I’m so glad my mom doesn’t work here [Walmart] anymore, that’s the only thing I could think about, those employees working, that would have to restock all that stuff,” said O.J Evans who took cell phone video of the overflowing shopping carts at the Mansfield Walmart.

Evans believes it was natural human reaction that led people to fill up their carts during the glitch, but Walmart shoppers Stan and Judy Garcia feel very differently. ”That’s plain theft, that’s stealing that’s all I got to say about it,” said Garcia.

Lynd says contrary to rumors, nobody was unruly or arrested and they were mainly there to help prevent shoplifting and theft.

A dispatcher for Mansfield police also confirms officers were called in for crowd control at the Mansfield Walmart. She said the shelves were cleared out, forcing Walmart to stop selling food at 9 p.m. There were no arrests.

Carts overflowing with food left in the middle of aisles after it was announced that the EBT cards now showed limits.

A “natural human reaction?” Stealing is a conscious choice, hardly natural. Also, how did so many people get word that the store wasn’t checking limits? Some sort of network must have been in use – perhaps social media via phone.

If it turns out that dozens of people went over their limit I wonder if Walmart will look at the thousands of dollars in lost sales and be so magnanimous about not pressing charges.

KSLA News 12 Shreveport, Louisiana News Weather

American Thinker Blog

Food stamp recipients empty Walmart shelves during system glitch

Sunday, June 23, 2013

Hostess: Twinkies to return to shelves July 15

This undated image provided by Hostess Brands LLC shows a box of Twinkies. Twinkies will be back on shelves by July 15, 2013, after its predecessor company went bankrupt after an acrimonious fight with unions last year. The brands have since been purchased y Metropoulos & Co. and Apollo Global Management. (AP Photo/Hostess Brands)

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NEW YORK (AP) â€” Hostess is betting on a sweet comeback for Twinkies when they return to shelves next month.

The company that went bankrupt after an acrimonious fight with its unionized workers last year is back up and running under new owners and a leaner structure. It says it plans to have Twinkies and other snack cakes back on shelves starting July 15.

Based on the outpouring of nostalgia sparked by its demise, Hostess is expecting a blockbuster return next month for Twinkies and other sugary treats, such as CupCakes and Donettes. The company says the cakes will taste the same but that the boxes will now bare the tag line “The Sweetest Comeback In The History Of Ever.”

“A lot of impostor products have come to the market while Hostess has been off the shelves,” says Daren Metropoulos, a principal of the investment firm Metropoulos & Co., which teamed up with Apollo Global Management to buy a variety of Hostess snacks.

Hostess Brands Inc. was struggling for years before it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in early 2012. Workers blamed the troubles on years of mismanagement, as well as a failure of executives to invest in brands to keep up with changing tastes. The company said it was weighed down by higher pension and medical costs than its competitors, whose employees weren’t unionized.

To steer it through its bankruptcy reorganization, Hostess hired restructuring expert Greg Rayburn as its CEO. But Rayburn ultimately failed to reach a contract agreement with its second largest union. In November, he blamed striking workers for crippling the company’s ability to maintain normal production and announced that Hostess would liquidate.

The shuttering triggered a rush on Hostess snack cakes, with stores selling out of the most popular brands within hours.

About 15,000 unionized workers lost their jobs in the aftermath.

In unwinding its business, Hostess sold off its brands in chunks to different buyers. Its major bread brands including Wonder were sold to Flowers Foods, which makes Tastykakes. McKee Foods, which makes Little Debbie snack cakes, snapped up Drake’s Cake, which includes Devil Dogs and Yodels.

Metropoulos & Co. and Apollo bought Twinkies and other Hostess cakes for $ 410 million.

Apollo Global Management, founded by Leon Black, is known for buying troubled brands then selling them for a profit; its investments include fast-food chains Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s. Metropoulos & Co., which has revamped then sold off brands including Chef Boyardee and Bumble Bee, also owns Pabst Brewing Co.

That could mean some cross-promotional marketing is in store.

“There is certainly a natural association with the two,” Metropoulos said. “There could be some opportunities for them to seen together.”

The trimmed-down Hostess Brands LLC has a far less costly operating structure than the predecessor company. Some of the previous workers were hired back, but they’re no longer unionized.

Hostess will also now deliver to warehouses that supply retailers, rather than delivering directly to stores, said Rich Seban, the president of Hostess who previously served as chief operating officer. That will greatly expand its reach, letting it deliver to dollar stores and nearly all convenience stores in the U.S.

Previously, he said Hostess was only able to reach about a third of the country’s 150,000 convenience stores.

Production was also consolidated, from 11 bakery plants to four â€” one each in Georgia, Kansas, Illinois and Indiana. The headquarters were moved from Texas to Kansas City, Mo., where Hostess was previously based and still had some accounting offices.

In the months since they vanished from shelves, the cakes have been getting a few touchups as well. For the CupCakes, the company is now using dark cocoa instead of milk chocolate to give them a richer, darker appearance.

Seban stressed that the changes were to improve the cakes, not to cut costs. Prices for the cakes will remain the same; a box of 10 Twinkies will cost $ 3.99.

Looking ahead, Seban sees Hostess expanding its product lineup. He noted that Hostess cakes are known for three basic textures: the spongy cake, the creamy filling and the thicker icing. But he said different textures â€” such as crunchy â€” could be introduced, as well as different flavors.

“We can have some fun with that mixture,” he said.

He also said there are many trendy health attributes the company could tap into, such as gluten-free, added fiber, low sugar and low sodium.

During bankruptcy proceedings, Hostess had said that its overall sales had been declining, although the company didn’t give a breakout on the performance of individual brands. But Seban is confident Twinkies will have staying power beyond its re-launch.

As for the literal shelf-life, Seban is quick to refute the snack cake’s fabled indestructibility.

“Forty-five days â€” that’s it,” he said. “They don’t last forever.”

___

Follow Candice Choi at www.twitter.com/candicehoi

Associated Press

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Hostess: Twinkies to return to shelves July 15

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