How scanners changed the grocery game in 1986
Bar codes on every product meant stores could track shopping data
Scanners are now so commonplace that many stores have long been outsourcing their use to customers.
But in 1986, the technology was new enough that CBC's business program Venture aired an explainer on how they worked and why grocery stores had adopted them.
"Laser scanners are the newest eyes of a technology that reads the little black bars," explained host Patrick Watson on Oct. 19, 1986.
Those "little black bars" were Universal Product Codes, and they had been around for over 10 years by then.
'A leap forward'
Grocery stores weren't just saving on the labour involved in putting individual stickers on each piece of inventory.
"With the scanning data, we'll know exactly how our customers shop: what time they come, how often they come," explained Terry Connoy of the Miracle Mart chain of grocery stores.
"It will enable us to schedule people to meet that demand."
Having access to that data was crucial in his industry, Connoy said. The margin of profitability in the grocery business hovered around one per cent.
Paul Morin of the Quebec chain Provigo said there was no other option for stores if they wanted to compete.
"Technology is where it's at now," he said. "We've done all the improvements that we were able to do on the human side.
"Now technology brings a new ability to leap forward."
Placement of products on the shelf could also make a big difference for profitability, and store managers were using specialized software to plot the best place for everything.
Up next at the store
The shopping experience had changed in other ways, thanks to technology.
"Touch a screen and an electronic guide speaks out in case you can't find anything," explained Watson as the camera showed the process.
Customers looking for olive oil, for example, navigated an alphabetical list of products to find it, then were directed to the part of the store where they could find it.
Connoy even anticipated how grocery purchases could eventually be made.
"Scanners ... will allow a customer to walk into a store with a card, no cash," said Connoy. "The card will transfer everything for her, take care of it all."
A boon for advertisers
A.C. Nielsen, the company that measured TV viewership and sold the valuable insights from their technology to advertisers, was also getting into consumers' grocery bags.
"We're measuring what people are viewing on their television sets, and then for that same household, exactly what they purchase in the grocery store," said Eb Holmes, a spokesman for Nielsen.
To glean that information, Nielsen relied on the consumer to use a handheld scanner to log their grocery purchases as they unpacked the bags at home.
"Later, via acoustic coupler, the information is uploaded into Nielsen's mainframe," explained Watson.
The acoustic coupler was a device attached to the scanner that used audio tones to convey the information as the customer held it up to the mouthpiece of a telephone handset.
"All this information and analysis is the key to survival for the giant grocers," said Watson.
According to the Globe and Mail, the Miracle Mart chain featured in this story was bought by A&P in 1990 and ceased to exist as a brand in 1996.
