triumphed over its difficult geographic location to rival US standards, has announced further plans to improve service.

The magazine, Supermarket News, said in a feature article that The MarketPlace's sourcing dilemmas -- and the solutions it is beginning to devise -- provide a unique perspective for US retailers, grappling with their own replenishment issues.

One of the main priorities named by president of The MarketPlace Mr. John Carr, is to shorten the span from time of order to time of arrival in Bermuda.

The MarketPlace plans to install technology that will ease the ordering process, including shelf tickets which can be scanned. Presently, the stock takers order by hand, but after the New Year, the store should be able to communicate by modem with the suppliers.

"The machinery is here and will be implemented in the New Year,'' said Mr.

Carr.

The chain will first apply the new system to ShopRite and President's Choice merchandise, and then to other goods supplied by local suppliers.

"The shop labelling will help to maintain shelf discipline,'' he said -- goods can be ordered according to customer demand.

Scanning at the checkout had been "a problem'' in the past, said Mr. Carr.

"About 12 to 13 years ago, we decided to get out, but technology has developed since then,'' he said."We are still cautious as scanning is problematic. The customer can be charged differently at the front checkout from the price seen on the shelf.

"There has to be strong discipline to maintain the file, and yet discrepancies can occur. Customers in Bermuda lost confidence in scanning,'' said Mr. Carr.

Another future ambition is to improve sourcing arrangements.

"If we order Evian, its an eight week turn -- same with Perrier. The order goes to France and it takes eight to 10 weeks to get here. Eventually, we'd like to get such products directly from the States, through our local agents, with turns of about a week or 10 days,'' he said.

He will also encourage volume purchasing: "We try to keep prices down by buying straight container loads of an individual commodity,'' he said.

"One of the most dramatic improvements in the last few years, has been the recent increase in checkouts at the Hamilton store.'' The number has increased from eight to 12 checkouts in the last four to five weeks. "This has increased efficiency. Hamilton had a problem with traffic before,'' he said.

The conversion of the bakery to a self-service system has increased sales, he said.