April 01, 2006
Stop & Shop grocery stores now selling "generic brand" technology
Posted by Jess in
Geek Humor
Somerville, MA
The New England based Stop & Shop grocery store chain has long sold generic brand products, such as selling "Sierra Mist" instead of Mountain Dew soda. Other examples include "Tasteeos", the generic version of General Mill's Honey Nut Cheerios, and "Fruity O's", better known as Kellogg's Froot Loops.
Now they are cashing in on the technology industry.
Generic brands, sold with the absence of a brand logo, is a common practice among pharmaceuticals such as CVS and big grocery chains. Many times, the products are created on the same factory line, and split off to get its new brand-free label. To keep costs down, the generic brand is usually free of a few ingredients. Canned fruit cocktail may have less cherries, which are generally the most expensive of the bunch. Generic brand mixed nuts will have a higher ratio of peanuts.
What will make their technology line different, besides being free of the burdens of advertising? An absence of a manual, for one. Technical support will be unavailable, as will warranty service.
Here's what you can look for on the shelves soon at Stop & Shop: a cell phone device capable of email will be a small unit known simply as "The Raspberry". Customers can have their choice of in-store cell phone providers, Plural and BeforeSay. Their e-mail service, being offered later this month, is the nondescript "A Nation Connected."
Most consumers are delighted at being able to stretch their one-stop-shopping habits even further, however, not everyone is as happy.
Sam McGill, an employee at America Online, is not pleased. He works at the boxing facility, and says his headaches have just begun. "Now we have two different wrappers for the same piece of software, our lives are twice as difficult. Although", he brightened, "I suppose we can do it quicker because there's no manual."
Others are just plain annoyed. "You'd think they'd at least change the color of the little yellow man," according to Barry Evans of Newport, RI.
As for selling the technology? No problem. Stop & Shop grocery stores routinely have fast turnaround employees of high school students – and no one knows the technology better than they do. Suddenly they are in high demand. "I was making, like, $6.75 an hour last week," said Stephanie, a local sophomore. "Monday they came up to me and offered me $50,000 a year if I'd, like, tell people how IM works. Oh, wait a sec, I'm not allowed to call it that anymore, 'quick chat', I mean. Do you know how many iTunes songs I can buy with $50,000? D'oh, I mean, like eSongs."
Asked if the lack of manual will discourage buyers, Stop & Shop President Marc Smith had the following to say: "Who reads it anyway?"
Founded in 1914, Stop & Shop is a 46-million dollar retail grocery store, the largest grocery chain in New England.
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