ShopRite keeps online orders cool with innovative totes

ShopRite is rolling out innovative freezer and refrigerator totes to help fulfill curbside and delivery orders.

The Northeast regional grocer, a banner of retailer-owned grocery co-op Wakefern Food Corp., is implementing second generation Phononic ACS (Active Cooling Solutions) freezer and refrigerator totes at a location in New York. The totes, which operate without traditional refrigerants, are being used to pick, store and stage online orders and save space in-store.  

Supported with 24-7 information-sharing capabilities from Phononic, ShopRite is equipped with tote utilization, cold chain compliance and energy consumption data to help the retailer maximize usage and efficiency of the solution.

Since deploying the totes in the test store, Shop Rite has determined that tote size and portability allowed a 70% reduction in staging room requirements with no impact on order volume. The retailer has also observed reduced congestion during peak hours.

“The recent launch of the Phononic second generation ACS totes allowed us to create an order, pickup, deliver department in a store with a smaller building footprint. Local customers can now pick up their online orders at the store or have them delivered,” said Steve Savas, president, Shop-Rite Supermarkets  Inc. (SRS), which operates ShopRite stores in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and the Hudson Valley in New York. “We are always looking for opportunities to be at the forefront of innovation in digital commerce, and we are excited to be the first grocer in the nation with this technology.”

“As the industry’s only solid-state cooling solution for curbside, Phononic’s actively-cooled tote makes economic sense,” said Larry Yang, chief product officer at Phononic. “Not only is it easy to integrate the totes into ShopRite’s existing operations, but it's incredibly scalable — capable of growing easily alongside ShopRite’s booming curbside business, and agile enough to keep up with daily order fluctuations.”

[Read more: Shop Rite rolls out inventory robots to more stores]

Founded in 1946, Wakefern Food Corp. is the the largest retailer-owned cooperative in the U.S. and includes nearly 50 member families who independently own and operate hundreds of supermarkets under the ShopRite, Price Rite Marketplace, The Fresh Grocer, Dearborn Market, Gourmet Garage, and Fairway Market banners in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island.