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That Snickers bar you didn’t know you wanted might soon meet you curbside.
Retailers chasing the lost art of the impulse buy, more and more a thing of the past in the modern digital age, may have found a digital nudge.
A newly issued U.S. patent issued to Frito-Lay North America lays out a system and method for prompting impulse purchases designed to engage customers at retail pickup locations, drive-thrus (or is that throughs?), fuel pump islands, and the like, potentially reshaping how retailers capture impulse buys in an increasingly online-driven market.
The patented technology details an automated process that detects a customer’s position near a designated impulse purchase location and automatically transmits an impulse purchase prompt to the customer’s mobile device.
Ding — Hey, lookey here: Coke Zero, Cheetos, Doritos, and Lay's. Take your pick, you can't eat just one of any of those.
If the customer responds to the prompt with a purchase request, the system can fulfill the impulse purchase in near real time, including automatically opening a storage compartment in an associated automated locker to dispense the item before the customer arrives.
The listed inventors are John S. Phillips and George Benjamin Mayfield. The patent was approved Dec. 30. It was originally filed in 2023.
Unlike traditional impulse purchases — typically triggered by displays at checkout aisles — this system targets consumers who may not even enter the main retail space, such as online grocery pickup customers or individuals at drive-thru lanes.
Using technologies such as Bluetooth connections, geofence detection, wireless communications or even camera systems, the impulse purchase prompts are transmitted when the customer is within a predetermined distance from the location.
The patent describes both semi-automated and fully automated locker implementations, which may include multiple temperature-controlled compartments for storing items such as beverages or snacks.
In some embodiments, impulse prompts are sent only when items in the storage compartment are at or below a predetermined temperature, ensuring quality for perishable products.
Customers interact with the system through their mobile devices, which can receive notifications and display suggested products. Prompts can be tailored — suggesting specific items or broader categories — and fully integrated with mobile payment systems for seamless checkout without a traditional in-store transaction.
Inventors laid out scenarios including a grocery pickup environment, fuel station locations, and drive-thru windows, where geofencing and Bluetooth beacons could trigger impulse prompts. In some cases, customers scanning a QR code at the location could initiate the process. Once an impulse purchase request is received, a signal to the automated locker’s communications module opens the correct storage compartment and dispenses the selected product in anticipation of the customer’s arrival.