Major European food retailer starts a test of web selling
Intermarche, an organization of 2,000 independently owned supermarkets in Europe, is starting a test of web-based selling, installing an e-commerce system developed by Peachtree Network of Montreal. The test will begin with 20 stores in France.
Peachtree will provide a full e-commerce system, the core of which is a store-based pick-and-pack system based on Palm Pilots, Louis Brouillet, chief strategic officer of Peachtree, tells Internet Retailer. Customers’ orders will be downloaded from the web site to Palm Pilots with bar-code scanners that store employees will use to fulfill the order. The product list in the Palm Pilot will correspond to the layout of the store that is fulfilling the order. The employee will scan each item before placing it in a cart. The system allows the employee to fill multiple orders at the same time. The system will employ specially designed shopping carts with multiple bins so the store can fill more than one order at a time. If the test proves successful it could roll out to 1,600 other stores, Brouillet says.
Four Shop-Rite stores in New Jersey are also testing the Peachtree system.
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