Tech-savvy pizza lovers will soon be able to order through their television with a touch of a button, with Dominos’ Pizza partnering with Hybrid TV, the exclusive licensee for TiVo in Australia, to make it even easier for Australians to order pizza. Launching in 2009, TiVo viewers will be able to look at the Domino’s Pizza menu through their TV, place an order and have it delivered directly to their door, an experience that pushes the boundaries of traditional ordering, according... ...Read more »
The Kellogg Company is attempting to utilise consumer insights collected from virtual shopping to enhance the packaging of its breakfast cereals. Consumers are now more demanding than ever, private label is placing greater pressure on ‘national brands’ and the economic crisis is softening demand and reducing impulse purchases. As a result, virtual shopping has become an increasingly popular tool for brand marketers in the US, in particular, as the ability, and tools used, to understand... ...Read more »
PepsiCo and their UK bottler, Britvic, have announced they will use one of the hottest trends in Japan, QR (quick response) codes, to strengthen ties with their consumers. The codes will appear on around 400 million Pepsi cans and bottles in the UK. QR codes can be employed for promotional purposes, to gain more traffic to mobile-enabled websites or to give out information. The Japanese immigration service uses them as passport stamps. In the case of Pepsi, it will enable consumers to receive entertainment,... ...Read more »
PakSense, Inc., an innovator in sensory solutions for packaging, announced at the recent Produce Marketing Association’s annual Fresh Summit convention that it will release a wireless version of its award-winning temperature monitoring label in December. The PakSense Ultra Wireless Label will enable users to wirelessly download time and temperature information and analyze data before unloading a perishable product from a container. PakSense Ultra Wireless Labels are activated and applied to... ...Read more »
The CSIRO Food Futures Flagship has developed an automated instrument for accurately predicting glycemic index (GI) and resistant starch (RS) in food products. The prototype device is an in vitro (bench top) robotic machine that acts as an ‘artificial gut’ to process large numbers of food samples for a fraction of the time and cost required by the standard in vivo (human) method. The device has been validated as a rapid and reliable predictor of the GI and RS content of foods. Its principal... ...Read more »
Modern supermarkets and retailers are constantly looking at new ways to utilise every bit of available space to promote and advertise. Retailers often hang signs from the ceiling, glue banners to the floor, add placards to shelves in every aisle and use the trolley as a promotional device. But the freezer door, save from a few carefully placed stickers, has often remained largely unused. The primary problem has always been the potential to reduce the ability of the customer to see the products housed... ...Read more »
A team of Australian scientists has joined forces in a collaboration that will utilise state-of-the-art technology and materials science to determine the molecular structure of the protein components in some of our most common foods. The research is designed to assist food manufacturers understand the links between the nanostructure of foods containing protein and their associated physical and biochemical properties, thereby enabling them to predict and control the behaviour of raw materials and... ...Read more »
Media Cart, a computer screen fixed on the nose of supermarket trolleys to provide targeted communications, is launching into the Australian market as part of a global rollout, with trials likely to begin in October. The Media Cart system will offer shoppers access to a wide range of features including ads for store specials, a map showing product locations in the store and even nutritional information and recipes relating to products. Customers can utilise the control panel on the handle bar to... ...Read more »
More than 75 per cent of business executives and 80 per cent of information technology (IT) executives believe that IT should be a key area for investment, but only one-quarter actually believe this investment is being made, according to a report released by the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA). The report suggests that this disconnect between the desired and actual role of the IT function in company operations is the result in part of misaligned business strategy, wherein business executives... ...Read more »
American-based WebDiet, Inc. has created a program which provides consumers with customised meal suggestions at the point of purchase based on the needs, wants and location of the customer.It is a new smartphone-based service to help people make smarter eating choices and improve their health, according to the creators. WebDiet is the first and only service to proactively send customers specific and dynamic meal suggestions, directly to their email and mobile devices immediately before time of purchase.... ...Read more »