Grocery Shop With Peapod During Commute
By Jim Donovan
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Love it or hate it, we all have to do grocery shopping. It can take a chunk out of a weekend afternoon. But what if you could do it while on your morning or evening commute? As 3 On Your Side Consumer Reporter Jim Donovan finds, one company is making it happen.
What's for dinner? Shopping for groceries can be the bane of the busy person's existence.
"They're always looking for a different way to skin the cat. You know, a different way to get it done quickly, and to feel like they're doing a good job at it," says Peg Merzbacher of Peapod. Instead of consumers going to the store on the way home from work, online grocer Peapod has temporarily brought the store to them -- on billboards in around 100 train stations primarily up and down the east coast.
Consumers download an app by scanning a QR code with a Smartphone. Then they scan the bar codes on the billboard to put items in their carts and schedule for home delivery. It's a virtual convenience store of sorts. Shoppers can browse the full range of products through the app.
According to Merzbacher, "They're just thinking about people being productive in places where they can't potentially being productive and starting to shop."
While Peapod got the idea for their virtual aisles from technology overseas, the company tested the program for 3 months in our area last winter. Obviously is was a success. The virtual aisle billboards can be found at these local SEPTA stations:
1.Bryn Mawr
2.Villanova
3.Radnor
4.Ardmore
5.Chestnut Hill East
6.Chestnut Hill West
7.Jenkintown
8.Media
9.Elkins Park
10.Yardley
11.Swarthmore
12.Lansdale
13.Ambler
14.North Wales
15.Glenside
For more information about Peapod visit: http://www.peapod.com/
