Feature Spotlight: Weighted Items

Through the years, mainstays in grocery stores have been the meat and deli departments. Whether you like your sandwich meat freshly sliced to your preferred thickness or prefer the hassle-free planning that comes along with ordering your Thanksgiving turkey and sides from your favorite grocer, many customers turn to their local meat and deli departments to meet these demands. But for grocers, using an Order Management System (OMS) like FoodStorm to manage this complex fresh food ordering process hasn’t been an option… until now. In one of the largest expansions of FoodStorm’s functionality, retailers can now use FoodStorm’s OMS to manage, prepare and fulfill orders that include weighted items while offering their end customers a simple and intuitive ordering experience!  

What are Weighted Items?

Weighted Items within a grocery store are the fresh items, usually found behind a counter with an attendant, that are prepared and sold by weight. Examples include deli meats, cheese slices, premade protein dishes, premade sides and salad, butchered meats, seafood, as well as specialty items such as Thanksgiving turkeys or holiday hams. FoodStorm’s Weighted Items functionality allows retailers to unlock this assortment of items within their store to be sold and managed via our OMS. Some of the key features include:

• The ability for retailers to predefine weight increments that suit their offerings and meet their customers’ ordering patterns:

            ￮ Sell items by approximate weight range, i.e. high volume orders for Thanksgiving turkeys (10-12 lbs or 14-16 lb)

            ￮ Sell by incremental weight, i.e. shaved meats and sliced cheese (¼ lb of smoked turkey or 8 oz of sliced Gouda)

            ￮ Sell by approximate weight, i.e. New York steaks (½ lb per steak)

• Better visibility for the end customer to see weighted item pricing while shopping online

• Enhanced and improved experience for retailers when using FoodStorm Order Management System to add and manage their weighted items

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How can Weighted Items help my grocery business?

By unlocking the entire weighted items assortment within a retailer’s deli, meat and catering operations, they can increase sales opportunities, provide a better customer and employee experience, as well as reduce administrative tasks. More specifically, this can benefit your grocery business by:

• Being able to sell weighted items through your FoodStorm e-commerce site, opening another sales channel to boost revenue

• Providing a better purchasing experience for customers to ensure they aren’t overcharged for weighted items

• Increasing sales by eliminating undercharging customers for weighted items

• Reducing the number of programs and processes to accurately sell and fulfill weighted items orders, minimizing admin work and chance for error

• Reducing the preparation pressure that usually come along with weighted items, allowing them to be ordered ahead and limit in-store customer queuing

• Reducing potential food waste by ensuring the correct amount of the order item is given to the customer

• Increasing customer trust by ensuring the amount ordered, is the amount provided and accurately charging the customer

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Bring the power of ordering ahead to your weighted items 

Now with FoodStorm you only need one system to power your entire food service ordering and order management experiences. 

Book your demo today to learn how FoodStorm can help your grocery business.

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Disclaimer: This article has been updated June 2024.