Will an Autonomous Store Replace Grocery Stores, Restaurants, and C-Stores?

Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® At Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® team believes the migration from inside dining at restaurants, the 40 minute grocery shopping trip, and the quick stop at the C-store on the way home will within 7 years be replaced by branded autonomous retail stores selling meals and meal solutions.

After reading an article by Isabelle Gustfason about an Artificial intelligence (AI) technology company AiFi that had announced that it’s on track to deploy 330 new and retrofitted autonomous stores by the end of 2021, Johnson and his team began to speculate that a smaller footprint, fewer emplyees, and fresh food fast how could that not work in the ever expanding world of Grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food.

She wrote “Today, AiFi’s OASIS, the Orchestrated Autonomous Store Infrastructure and Services, is already powering 10 futuristic stores in a variety of sizes in Silicon Valley, Los Angeles, and San Antonio in the U.S., in Amsterdam, Dusseldorf, Paris, and Poznan in Europe and in the city of Shanghai in Asia.

In addition to the publicly known partnerships with Albert Heijn, Carrefour, Żabka, and Loop Neighborhood, AiFi is also actively deploying autonomous stores with several prominent companies listed among the top 10 grocery retailers — both nationally and internationally.

The 330 AiFi OASIS-based autonomous stores range from 800-square-foot convenience stores and travel shops to 10,000-square-foot grocery stores. They are located primarily in the U.S. and Europe, with additional stores coming to Australia, Asia and South America.

“We are going to see explosive growth in autonomous stores. With the onset of COVID-19, the need is even more urgent for a contactless and autonomous retail store where you can shop and feel safe in a physical environment,” said Steve Gu, CEO and co-founder, AiFi. “The 10 deployed stores are operational or in advanced stages of testing. These stores have proven to be stable, accurate and popular among shoppers who love the lightning speed and fluid retail experience.”

For new stores being deployed, AiFi has developed three tiers of its OASIS Autonomous Store Platform: AiFi Enterprise, AiFi Business and AiFi Lite. The AiFi Enterprise allows for a customizable solution with a superior checkout-free experience including flexible payment methods, an advanced shopping journey design, and value-added operational tools for smart inventory management. All three tiers can provide a return on investment in less than one year, as well as fast and easy deployment.

“The whole world is moving towards being autonomous,” said Gu. “AiFi is proud to be working with the most renowned retail brands in the world to bring the best user experience to shoppers for the new era of autonomous shopping.” We ask are you looking a customer ahead?

Foodservice Solutions® team is here to help you drive top line sales and bottom-line profits. Are you looking a customer ahead? Visit GrocerantGuru.com for more information or contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us Remember success does leave clues and we just may the clue you need to propel your continued success.