Sobeys Smart Shopping Cart Scans Then Checks You Out

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

Bingo Box Copycats Driving Cashier Free Adoption

Back in the day the U.S. was filled with cutting edge venture capitalists who would drive innovation in retail foodservice and the world watch, copied and U.S. branded innovative foodservice grew.  Today foodservice innovation and venture capital is center stage in China and Asia according to Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru®, Steven Johnson. 

Consumers in China are just as time starved as anywhere else in the world and retailers looking to reduce consumer time in the stores think going ‘cashier-free is the way to go.  The question is this the next big thing or are retailers and venture capitalist throwing money at China’s cashier-free convenience stores?

First does the technology in a cashier free store work?  Will the retailer actually make money, or learn once again that retail, even tech-driven retail, is a brutal business of low margins, low barriers to entry and high fixed costs? Our Grocerant Guru® asks how much would your margins improve without cashiers? 

This year alone in China there are eight start-ups in the space have raised a total US$385 million. The investment premise seems simple: tap into an ongoing retail revolution in a nation with 1.3 billion potential shoppers with a track record of embracing new retail experiences.

The fact is China’s cashier-free stores are very different from Amazon Go, the fully automated checkout-free stores launched by Amazon, something all of the Chinese start-ups tried to copy but found it too difficult. Amazon Go has delayed it’s rollout due to ongoing technology and operational glitches according to Amazon.  

Most of China’s cashier-free stores fall into two types. The first looks like traditional convenience stores with row of products displayed like in a 7-Eleven, or with product images displayed on a computer screen. Shoppers scan a QR code or their faces to enter the store. They then scan the products they want and check out via mobile payment. In other cases, they are clicking pictures of products and pay via mobile payment.

The products are then dispensed like from a vending machine. Bingobox, Bianlifeng and Xiaomai belong to this category, with most placing box-like stores “in the wild”, such as in parks or on the sidewalk.

The other type are essentially a vending machine, or shelves, placed in office buildings and powered by mobile payment and QR codes. The only difference between this type and a traditional vending machine is the addition of mobile payment enabled by easy scan of QR codes. Guoxiaomei and Citybox are examples of this type.

Here is the point international retailers are expanding into new points of fresh food distribution, that may very well save them lots of money while driving top line sales and bottom line profits?  So we ask does your company look more like yesterday than tomorrow? Will you brand be replaced by a new start-up from Europe, Asia, or the U.S.? 

Success does leave clues www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  is the global leader in grocerant niche business development.  We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities.  Has your company had a Grocerant ScoreCard completed a Grocerant Program Assessment, or new Grocerant niche product Ideation?  Want one?  Call 253-759-7869 Email: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us