FairPrice goes high-tech for better shopping experience, faster deliveries

SINGAPORE — Supermarket chain NTUC FairPrice unveiled a revamp of its online platforms on Wednesday (March 28), launching a refreshed mobile app and online portal, as well as a state-of-the-art automated warehouse storage and retrieval system that it hopes will give customers a better e-shopping experience and faster deliveries.

Called "FairPrice On", the mobile app and online portal offer over 13,000 products, from groceries and fresh produce to personal care and electronics. That is more than double the 5,500 items FairPrice stocked online previously in 2015.

While customers would need to wait more than 24 hours to receive their delivery, they can now receive it within a day, said FairPrice On general manager Elvin Too, who noted that there are "five times more" delivery slots as compared to two years ago.

Designed to be more user-friendly — so that online shoppers will find it is easier to search, select products, choose a time slot for delivery of goods and to make payments — the platforms will also help FairPrice tap on data analytics to send targeted personalised promotions based on shoppers' profile, interests and consumption habits.

Currently, over 400,000 shoppers are subscribed to FairPrice On. To enjoy free home delivery, customers must spend on orders of more than S$59. If they prefer to self-collect from 71 click-and-collect locations, the minimum required spending is S$29.

Last week, FairPrice and ride-hailing firm Grab launched a new subscription programme, Score, offering savings and rebates as well as access to grocery and transport services.

Under the programme, subscribers are eligible for free home delivery from FairPrice once a month with no minimum spending. They may also do their exchanges or refunds at 138 brick-and-mortar FairPrice stores located island-wide.

Noting that FairPrice has taken the past 1.5 years to conduct an end-to-end overhaul of its online shopping service, its chief executive officer Seah Kian Peng said: "Today is a culmination of the various efforts we have taken in embracing technology to enhance our online portal further — to make grocery shopping more convenient while, at the same time, boosting productivity."

On the revamped website and portal, Mr Seah said this "wider assortment provides more choice for shoppers", and it will be committed to growing the range of products.

Young families who are strapped for time can also benefit, as FairPrice is now able to arrange for deliveries 365 days in a year, as compared to deliveries not being done on public holidays and on Sundays previously.

Also launched on Wednesday is a new high-tech automated warehouse storage and retrieval system to meet customers' deliveries faster and more efficiently.

Located at the High-Tech Distribution Centre facility at FairPrice Hub at Joo Koon, the "AutoStore" is an automated system that taps on robotics to maximise storage space, optimise manpower and boosts productivity.

Acting like a "huge vending machine" that is able to automatically store, retrieve and dispense thousands of products, Mr Seah said this would change how customers' deliveries are done, as it speeds up the process for faster and more deliveries, as well as ensures "accuracy" in delivery orders so that it prevents products from being mixed up.

Currently, under the traditional method, a FairPrice staff operating as a "picker" would go from shelf to shelf to manually pick up products customers have ordered. Under the AutoStore system, the various products ordered will automatically be brought over to the picker.

Through a computerised system that manages customers' orders, robots can retrieve the items needed and shift the bins around to maximise space.

Each bin can be configured to hold any quantity of products depending on the items' size and weight. It is also able to hold different types of products within the same bin.

"This saves time, increases picking accuracy and optimises manpower," said Mr Seah.

Able to handle up to 3,000 orders per day, AutoStore's ability to pick up 220 products per hour is four times faster than the traditional picking method.

The high-density storage system consists of over 20,000 bins spread over multiple layers, occupying a space over one-and-a-half times the size of an Olympic-sized swimming pool.

Citing FairPrice as a good example of a traditional business which has tapped on technology to transform itself, Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam — who attended the launch — said: "FairPrice's journey is also reflective of Singapore's journey in the next phase of its development, which is about embracing technological change so as to maximise benefits for everyone, but also keeping a watchful eye on how it impacts jobs and helping every individual to adapt to change."