With online ordering, everyday commodities can be stored 'backstage', off the shop premises, and delivered to the customer
either at the checkout, a pick-up center or directly to the home. The space freed up can be used to merchandize luxury and
special products as well as the kind of time-saving, life-enhancing services tomorrow's consumers will demand. Expect to
see restaurants, food courts, medical centers, financial services, phone companies, dry cleaners, cookery classes, beauty
treatment rooms and the like springing up where once there were aisles and aisles of tinned tomatoes. Strip lighting and
shelves will be replaced by designer interiors, using natural light and materials. Specific food areas arranged by meal type
(breakfast, dinner, snack) will offer high quality, health-conscious, ready-prepared meals and foods. The store itself will
become a brand.
Ahold sees its store operations developing into a network of sales and service
channels for the customer and other parties. In addition to stores, Ahold also
offers its enhanced services on the internet, smart telephones and other
technology-driven channels. Its store formats will also have expanded
considerably by 2010 and will range from large, luxurious centers with food,
restaurants and freshly-made, take-out meals to convenience stores close to
residential areas looking after primary needs. They will also function as pick
up centers for other services ordered by phone or electronically from our
specialized distribution centers.
Ahold is preparing to become a multi-channei food provider, serving millions of
customers at any one time, not just at home but in locations we can hardly
envision now: fuel stations, restaurants, sport stadiums, colleges, hospitals,
religious centers - anywhere people gather on a regular basis. In 2010, Ahold's
food service operations will include an outstanding network of contemporary
stores and direct delivery to businesses and consumers, complemented with
virtual shopping on interactive TV screens. What's more, thanks to 'smart'
technology in the kitchen - for example, refrigerators with scanners that check
stock levels - it will be possible to buy and prepare food with less human
intervention.
