The Shopping and Information Service uses microcomputers to improve shopping for the housebound. In specified locations such as local libraries or the Social Services telephone centre the elderly, disabled and others can have their shopping orders entered into a microcomputer. Periodically, batches of orders are transmitted by telephone to the supermarket’s microcomputer for packing a delivery.

Whereas shopping was once a leisurely and personal affair, offering social encounters, the new superstores are clearly part of a trend towards speedy, efficient and impersonal service with most people shopping alone. Shopless shopping may be a dream for the profit hunter, but for the feckless consumer it’s just one more step towards a society in a social vacuum.

Science Now, The High-Tech Supermarket, 1983