Symphony EYC has launched an order fulfilment system for shoppers who order groceries online and collect them directly from drive-through depots without entering a store.
GOLD Drive has been implemented by several major French retailers for their grocery customers.
Symphony EYC was formed from the merger of Aldata and EYC at the end of last year. GOLD Drive forms part of the Symphony EYC Omni-Shopper Suite and extends the retailer’s service options to shoppers who prefer scheduled pickup rather than store visit or home delivery.
It lets retailers combine a larger food and non-food offer in a local store, capture spend from an increasingly omni-channel shopper, and optimise existing store and supply chain portfolios without significant investments or expansion.
In France there were 1,817 drive-through facilities at the end of 2012.
Some 2.3 million French households visited a drive during 2012, according to market research group Kantar Worldpanel. That number is expected to rise to 4.5 million by the end of 2015, equivalent to 6.1 per cent of the total shopping market. Overall, Kantar forecasts that rapid drive adoption will result in 4.5 million fewer shoppers in French stores in 2015.
“GOLD Drive, part of Symphony EYC’s Omni-Shopper Suite, is made possible by real-time supply chain software that provides committed availability of items at time of order,” said Donal Mac Daid, vice-president for GOLD supply chain at Symphony EYC. “This guarantees availability with no substitutions and no frustration.”
