OKLAHOMA CITY - The creators of AutoCart want to serve consumers convenience store items in their cars, reports The Daily Oklahoman. AutoCart has plans to open the world's first conveyance store called AutoTram in Oklahoma. Similar to convenience stores, the shops also have a pharmacy, gelato shop, a hot grill and perhaps a bank.

"I like to say we're transporting retailing into the future," Jeff Sutton, AutoCart executive business director, told the newspaper. "It really is the next generation of retail." His company plans to open at least three AutoTram stores by the end of 2007.

The logistics are rather simple: Customers stop by a kiosk that has a pay machine, ATM and a gasoline pump. Orders are taken from a touch screen for anything the store stocks, and the items are transported to the vehicle. For added convenience, customers can phone or e-mail orders for pick-up.

"This is the mall concept that truly works. We're talking about crossover sales where the person is stationary and we bring the stores to them, and they can make whatever selection they want," Al Jervinsky, president of logistics and licensing at AutoCart, told the newspaper.

This concept isn't entirely new to Oklahoma. More than two decades ago, Quickway Convenience Stores had a small grocery store that transported groceries to vehicles by a conveyor belt. However, the concept didn't last long.

"It didn't work because of the technology. People expect things to work 100 percent of the time and if it doesn't, you go back to the drawing board," NACS spokesman Jeff Lenard told the newspaper. "All people need is one bad experience and people don't come back."

The technology AutoCart uses for its transporter system has been at work in a Manhattan McDonald's for a dozen years, during which time, the system has never broken down. AutoCart, which owns the process patent, is looking into licensing the transporter. The transporter could fit easily into an existing convenience store, Jervinsky said.

He says the system is quicker and more convenient than a traditional drive-thru window. "The problem with the drive-thru window is the same problem everyone has. It causes a backup in traffic. It is not a convenient way to pick up the items that you just ordered,." Jervinsky told the newspaper.

Copyright 2007 NACS