Albertsons testing automated pickup kiosk

Albertsons’ Jewel-Osco division is testing an automated pickup kiosk for online grocery orders in the Chicago market.

The retailer has partnered with Estonia-based Cleveron to pilot the automated and contactless grocery pickup kiosk. Located at a Jewel-Osco store in Chicago, customers can select the “Kiosk PickUp” option when placing their order. Cleveron is one of the leading companies in the automated locker space, having worked with Walmart for several years through its Pickup Tower programme. Last year it piloted a robotic pickup kiosk with Woolworths in Australia.

When customers arrive at the kiosk, within a two-hour window, they scan a code on their phone and their groceries are robotically delivered to the front of the unit for pickup. The unit features two temperature zones, regular and deep freeze, with the unit capable of holding single customer orders in each of them. The kiosk in Chicago is currently fulfilling orders, and the company plans to install a second unit at a Bay Area Safeway.

IGD