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Helpful. . . or ho-hum?

Stores hope to score ahit with carts that show the kids movies and organize the shopping list.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published September 19, 2006

ALPHARETTA, Ga. - It took a grocer's offer of a cookie to finally tear 4-year-old Trey Malcom away from the small TV screen in his shopping cart.

Even then, his eyes shot back to the monitor the moment he accepted the sprinkled treat from the Publix grocery store clerk. "He's in his own world," said his mother, Amy Malcom, who was for once at peace as she filled her cart with veggies and snacks.

To parents, the TV Kart and its Bob the Builder and Barney videos allow a few precious moments while they check off their grocery lists.

Over the years, high-tech shopping carts in one form or another have been hyped as ways to keep people in stores longer and to spend more money, only to fall short of expectations. Each idea might have improved the stores' hip factor, but each had little immediate effect on bottom lines.

Still, companies are trying where others have failed, banking on technological advances.

The Personal Shopping Assistant, developed by IBM Corp. and Cuesol Inc., allows customers to fill out a grocery list on their home computers, then log into the system at the store to organize their trip.

A small screen mounted on a cart shows a running tally of what customers buy and can show where items on the list are located. The system costs between $60,000 and $120,000 per store, and they're being used in more than two dozen supermarkets, mostly in New England.

Cabco Group Ltd., the New Zealand company that makes the TV Kart, argues that past attempts failed because they offered shoppers no real advantage.

"This is all about improving the shopping experience. Unless you're going to do something that's going to give a direct customer benefit, it's never going to catch on," said Doug Bartlett, the company's business development manager.

[Last modified September 18, 2006, 23:16:08]