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How to Stay Cool with Fresh Produce Smart Lockers

If the pandemic has taught us anything, is that consumers will always find alternative ways to shop. Similarly, when the pandemic began, many retailers started relying on online sales and increasingly focusing on the experience they were offering to their online customers. With the stay-at-home orders and restaurant closures, grocery stores saw the biggest change. Supermarkets began paving the way to provide consumers with a contactless shopping experience by providing them with the necessary tools such as curbside pickups, at-home delivery, interactive applications for their mobiles, etc.

With online orders and home deliveries exploding during the pandemic, many retailers also began adopting and investing in parcel lockers. Parcel lockers have provided a safe and convenient way for many consumers to buy online and pick up in-store. Specifically in the retail industry, they have redefined shopping and logistics. Similarly, parcel lockers are also being used within the food industry as ghost kitchens began to spring up to mitigate indoor and outdoor dining restrictions. And now, more and more supermarket chains are adopting this ongoing trend by providing refrigerated parcel lockers for easy “click and collect” orders—but are there any drawbacks?

Refrigerated lockers are one way that many grocery and supermarket chains are helping to circumvent the ongoing challenge of having consumers buy online and pick up in-store, all while keeping groceries and produce fresh through temperature-controlled lockers. Although this seems like a pretty good idea, one thing that comes to mind is cost, maintenance, and product lifecycle. Like a refrigerator, a temperature-controlled locker would have to incorporate the technology needed to cool and control the temperature within the locker banks. There are an infinite number of drawbacks to refrigerated lockers; to name a few:

• A faulty refrigerated locker can struggle to maintain its temperature, and the likely outcome would be those food items will spoil.
• Losing cool air will result in condensation, which will force the compressor to work harder.
• Service calls can become expensive as issues arise.
• Clients not closing the doors properly can lead to locker damage and costly repairs.

A refrigerated locker may seem like the obvious solution for grocery stores, given their penchant to provide a hassle-free grocery orders, but there are other options available. One such solution that is more cost-effective and maintenance-free is Artitalia Group’s Fresh Produce Smart Locker. The smart locker provides a secure and fully customizable solution that allows customers to pick up their grocery purchases without the added cost of maintaining a temperature-controlled smart locker with the ChillBox.

• The ChillBox—a 100% recyclable and biodegradable insulated box that fits perfectly in the locker and keeps produce fresh for 6 hours. The ChillBox is the latest in helping to eliminate Styrofoam waste by providing a quick and easy—and cost-effective—way for retailers to provide their customers with a cooler than can be reused for a variety of different things.
• Tailored specifically to the grocery and fresh produce markets this BOPIS solution is completely designed and manufactured in North America. It includes state-of-the-art hardware, locker and cloud software, support services, and an affordable and unique solution for grocery and fresh produce market outlets.

For more information on Artitalia Group’s Addobox for Fresh Produce, download our brochure!