It's not been a good week for Luddites. Two reports in this issue of The Grocer are further testimony to the industry's eagerness to tread the technology route in the quest to maximise efficiency. Twenty five years ago it would have been nigh on impossible to convince too many traders that the information superhighway would ever be paved with gold. Once upon a time, the notion that IT issues would eventually play a dominant role in determining a retailer's profitability was occasionally expressed at IGD seminars - and usually after a trip to the other side of the Atlantic by one of the industry's far-thinking gurus. But what a difference a couple of decades makes. The pocket computer has virtually made the note pad redundant and now, as the first of our new regular IT features reveals on page 30, multiples are even looking at desktop PCs which help to navigate a business by integrating data into a map. Scanning put the high tech stamp on many retailers' operations and electronic solutions are the order of the day right along the grocery distribution chain. Which brings us to the second of our stories, and the continuing debate about home shopping versus the conventional grocery store. Amid accusations that the multiples are in danger of missing the boat on this issue, Sainsbury has been running a trial and now Tesco is going live with the UK's first full home delivery test offering the choice of 18,000 products direct to customers' doors. But despite the growing acceptance of the computer as a commonplace home appliance, there is still an urgent need to provide comfortable technology for today's consumers. Without that, the schemes will founder. The promoters assure us that their challenge is to make the ordering part straightforward and effortless - whether it be by phone, fax or the expanding Internet. If, as some suggest, they are near to achieving that goal, sizeable support for home shopping could be much nearer than most Luddites would have us believe. {{NEWS}}