Digital Supermarket of the Future

Summary

​To improve user experience and demonstrate how the consumer will buy food in the future, MLA has engaged CRA to explore the feature of two interactive tables modules, one refrigerated and one standard, similar to the ones installed in Supermarket of the Future in Bicocca, Milan. The project explores how data could change the way that we interact with the food that we eat, informing us about its origins and characteristics and promoting more informed consumption habits.

Every product has a precise story to tell: today, this information reaches the consumer in a fragmented way. But in the near future, we will be able to discover everything there is to know about the steak we are looking at: its origin, its nutrition values, the CO2 it produced, the chemical treatments it received and its journey to the supermarket shelf.

As people browse different products, information will be visible on suspended mirrors augmented with digital information. It is a truly innovative project, offering visitors the chance to try out possible future scenarios for the food supply chain and to explore a wide variety of products. Its goal is to expose new forms of interaction with food to the visitors, who can in turn provide their feedback. The project has been developed by CARLO RATTI ASSOCCIATI, in collaboration with Makr Shakr and Accenture.

The completed works are intended to be mobile, as MLA aims to move them from Australia to other countries, in order to get feedback from consumers about Australian meat through the digital information displayed on the tablets screens.

The first event where the Interactive tables have been presented to the public is Red Meat 2018, held on 20-23 November in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. Australian red meat producers and stakeholders are invited to attend the event. The program includes producer tours, the latest research, innovation and marketing insights, a tradeshow and technology demonstrations and networking opportunities.

The main benefits that will arise from the work are:

• improve the user experience when buying meat products
• consumers can be aware of what they buy and choose the products according to their specific needs
• farmers and breeders will see the point of spending some of their time on data collection
• data can be collected to meet the consumers’ requirements or to focus production on some specific categories.