Time is money may be an old adage by it
is the key reason Sobeys has begun
testing an “intelligent” shopping cart from Caper
Inc. that keeps track of groceries that customers select and enables them to
pay without having to go through the checkout lane that according to Steven
Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice
Solutions® will
make customer happy.
The Caper Smart Cart is being piloted at
the 41,000-square-foot Glen Abbey Sobeys supermarket in Oakville, Ontario. New
York-based Caper said the partnership with Sobeys makes it the first
independent automated checkout company to have a live commercial deployment
with a major retailer.
Branded as the Sobeys
Smart Cart, the high-tech unit uses artificial intelligence (AI) and
machine learning to scan and weigh products as customers put them in the cart.
A touchscreen near the cart’s handle displays a running tally of items
selected, and an attached a point-of-sale card terminal allows customers to pay
for their purchases right on the cart. Shoppers bag their own groceries, and
once payment is completed they exit the store. The Smart Carts are
retrieved and returned inside the store.
Mathieu Lacoursiere, vice president of
retail support at Sobeys, stated, "While products and customer eating
habits have evolved, the in-store grocery shopping experience has remained
relatively static for the last 100 years," "This is a unique way for
us to test innovative new technologies aimed at enhancing the customer shopping
experience and learn how best to make it faster and easier. The carts will also
give our in-store teammates more time to interact with customers and answer
questions about food and new products."
The smart cart will be dynamic not static
as capabilities of the cart will evolve beyond frictionless checkout. For
example, the cart’s screen eventually will be able to guide customers through
the store’s aisles to find products on their shopping list. Screen alerts also
will highlight deals and promotions on nearby items as well as make product
suggestions for recipes.
Citing research from PwC Canada, Sobeys reported that 52%
of Canadians think the in-store shopping experience would greatly improve if
they were able to navigate the store more quickly and easily.
Lacoursiere continues "The best
Canadian brands aim to be world-class by thinking ahead and placing bets on
unique innovations," … "We're constantly looking for new ways to
evolve the grocery shopping experience. During the Smart Cart pilot, we will
engage with our customers in real time to better understand what inspires them
and adds value to their shopping experience throughout the store."
This is a ‘plug-and-play solution’, the
Smart Cart allows retailers to scale and deploy automated checkout with minimal
disruption, according to Caper. "The Sobeys team has incredible execution
capabilities,” Beshry said. “When retailers are able to pick up a new
technology and execute quickly, it creates the right environment for rapid
innovation."
Looking for
success clues of your own? Foodservice Solutions® specializes in outsourced
food marketing and business development ideations. We can help you identify,
quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities, technology,
or a new menu product segment. Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma WA is the global leader in the Grocerant niche
visit Facebook.com/Steven Johnson, www.Linkedin.com/in/grocerant/ or www.twitter.com/grocerant
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