Cart Blanche

When the going gets tough, the tough get going. And, if that’s not enough cliché for you, there’s also: When you’re handed lemons, make lemonade.

Who better to make lemonade than a grocery retailer? So when two of Wegmans’ shopping cart manufacturers went out of business, the Upstate New York supermarket chain decided to go back to the drawing board and introduce a brand new shopping cart prototype. Here was a chance to address the thousands of complaints they’d heard from shoppers over the years.

So the new carts are bigger – 1000 more cubic inches of space – to hold more merchandise. They’re also tiered, so shoppers can separate the breakable eggs and smooshable bread from the bottles, cans and milk cartons.

There’s a cup holder for the requisite coffee. (Which means, of course, more shoppers are likely to stop at the coffee counter as they enter the store.) The handle is evidently coated with something to make it germ-repellant. And, yes, they roll smoothly – and straight.

So it’s a retailer focusing on customer experience, which everyone agrees is Priority Number One in these times. It’s a retailer not unafraid to shake things up and try something new. And it’s a retailer that might have gone into crisis mode when two of its primary suppliers went belly-up. Instead, it seized the opportunity to innovate.

And there’s a message here, too, for the industry’s manufacturers: There’s a market for new ideas and new engineering. If your customers don’t ask you for something new, recommend it to them. Problem-solve. Be their partner. Make yourself indispensable.