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Published on 10/09/1995 All articles from this issue

Peapod announces computer grocery shopping

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Products nutritional label can be viewed on-line in seconds

Evanston, IL - September 22, 1995 - Peapod, a computer grocery shopping and delivery service, has climbed to the next step on the multimedia ladder by offering consumers a healthier way to grocery shop, while still providing its members the ultimate time-saving tool around. Now, for the first time, Peapod focuses on helping consumers follow healthy guidelines, while still enabling its members to shop for all their grocery and drug store needs 24-hours-a-day via computer and modem.

Peapod's updated software - released to the public late this month - brings a new face to home or office computer grocery shopping by offering the option of sorting through individual products by calories, fat grams, cholesterol or many other nutritional values, a concept never before available. Also, to fully view a product's nutritional information, its Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved nutritional panel can easily be viewed on-screen so consumers can see first-hand its nutritional content.

Bringing healthy home: making informed decisions fast

With Peapod's new "sorting" feature, shoppers can be assured they are making informed decisions about the products they choose. In addition to its original variables of being able to make selections based on price, brand and product categories, for example, peapod's new "sorting" feature lines-up different products within a category according to a variety of preferences including fat grams, cholesterol, calories and sodium counts.

"Our goal is to make sure our members can select the exact products they want via their computer," States Derrick Milligan, Peapod's marketing development manager. "By providing a product's nutritional information in seconds, from its sodium content to the number of fat grams, we're helping consumers with different dietary needs make the most informed decisions possible about the products they purchase."

Once the Peapod member chooses how he would like to nutritionally sort products in a category, Peapod provides a nutritional listing in seconds. For example, if a member is looking for the potato chip brand with the lowest amount of fat grams per serving, Peapod will list all brands in descending order of fat content, enabling the member to choose the product that best fits his dietary needs. Then if the Peapod member still wants to know more about the product, its nutritional panel can be accessed and scanned for additional information.

According to Nancy Tierney, director of fitness/wellness for Northwestern University, "the first step to healthy eating is knowing which products to buy. With Peapod investigating the product's nutritional information for you, all that's left is to decide what you want to eat.

"The sorting feature is the wave of the future for shoppers with time constraints and health preferences. Peapod cuts the time it takes to stand in the store and read product labels"

The next generation: according to bill gates

Who better to predict the future of computer technology than Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, who during a recent gathering of food retail executives in Vancouver, British Columbia, predicted that within 10 years, one-third of food sales will be done electronically. And, with Peapod's new custom computer icons and graphics, the company has made electronic shopping via computer and modem a fun and easier way to accomplish a task disliked by most.

Peapod, located in Evanston, Ill., currently serves the Chicago and San Francisco areas