Two Lally Teams Win Recognition in Price Chopper Ultimate Innovation Competition

05.07.11

Price Chopper’s annual Ultimate Innovation Competition awards a total of $30,000 to Capital region undergraduate and graduate students for innovative ideas that can be applied to retail operations, supply chain management, marketing and human resources. Of the 78 entries and 6 winning teams, 2 Rensselaer teams won awards in the final round of competition.  The teams were all made up of students in Professor Jason Kuruzovich’s MGMT 4965/6965--Internet Marketing, a Lally school course that combines undergraduates, MBA, and MS students. 

Christopher Babie ’11, Madhura Deshpande MBA ’11, Yanbin Li MBA ’11, Saralise Ming MBA ’11 and Lei Zhang MBA ’11, won $3000 with Chopper Shopper Idol: Social media is becoming an invaluable tool for businesses in its ability to increase brand awareness and customer interaction.  Chopper Shopper Idol addresses both of these business needs.  Chopper Shopper Idol is a social game deployed on Facebook with the purpose of educating customers on business initiatives, providing tangible value to the end-user, and increasing the reach of the Price Chopper brand.  All of this is subtly accomplished through a fun gaming experience.

Linette Coolong MBA ’11, Scott Kretchmann MS ’11, Anne McDonough MS ’11, Matthew Nazarenko MBA ’11 and Danielle Petko MBA ’11 took third place and $6000 with their Central Market concept: The Central Market concept would consist of a convenience style store located within the larger Price Chopper supermarket. This area would provide items people purchase frequently such as milk, eggs, select produce, combined with convenient pre-packaged ready to cook at home meals expanding on the current Wednesday Meal Deal. The core benefit would be saving the customer time, combined with the convenience of picking up a meal quickly.