Smart shopping carts act like mobile checkout machines, enabling customers to avoid long checkout lines by totaling items as they shop in Queens NY.
Israeli startup Shopic provides an innovative cart-integrated scanning hardware and payment terminal solution, making scaling easier for grocery chains than existing full-cart solutions. A pilot program at Shufersal proved this system can increase shopper spending by an estimated 8 percent and produce 78% larger basket values than comparable full-cart solutions.
Easy navigation
Smart carts can help customers easily and reliably navigate stores by plotting the optimal path to products. In order to do this, these carts require accurate product location data, store map maps, real-time location updates as well as real-time information regarding themselves; indoor positioning technology or sensors placed both inside and outside can assist.
An automated self-checkout cart enables customers to avoid lines by making payments themselves and saving cashier salaries, freeing staff up for tasks not automated by the machine.
Veeve, Shopic and Instacart-owned Caper AI are three companies that offer solutions that enable retailers to retrofit existing carts with smart technology. Shopic provides an attractive clip-on unit which can be attached directly to an ordinary cart for use; recharges are handled through a dock which accommodates 16 units at the same time.
Real-time updates
Some smart carts use sensors and cameras to identify what products you place inside them, with built-in scales that weigh them when necessary.
When the cart detects long wait times at the deli counter, it can notify store managers about staffing issues. With this knowledge in hand, store managers can optimize operations by assigning employees to areas during peak periods.
Smart carts can keep tally of totals as you shop, sending coupons or marketing material directly to your smartphone during shopping trips. One AI company claims their technology increases average checkout totals by 18 percent.
Smart carts are part of the movement to eliminate checkout lines in supermarkets and grocery stores, but before implementing them in any store it is critical that access and equity issues are considered prior to their implementation as they could limit who can shop there or make shopping more challenging for some shoppers.
Convenience
Smart carts allow grocers to reduce checkout lines by allowing shoppers to self-checkout. Equipped with barcode scanners, security scales, touchpads and AI cameras to automatically scan items in customers’ carts as they shop – and bypassing checkout lines altogether – smart carts enable retailers to monitor sales data and inventory levels more accurately than ever.
Smart shopping carts can help reduce food waste. Their technology can display expiration dates on their touchscreen displays and warn customers when products nearing their end-of-shelf-life are approaching, thus significantly decreasing food waste while increasing sales while protecting inventory.
Some smart carts feature digital receipts that can be accessed through their touchscreen, making this option particularly helpful when tracking expenses for business or personal expense purposes. Furthermore, this system connects shoppers to product reviews and ratings online – assuring consumers they are purchasing products that best suit their needs.
Enhanced customer service
Smart carts can help you quickly shop and leave stores, too. They provide real-time totals, identify coupons and suggest products to try; some even give out digital receipts so that you can keep track of your expenses.
These carts also use automatic scanning technology, eliminating the need to wait at the checkout line while also decreasing staff waiting times and improving efficiency.
Lindon Gao, Caper’s co-founder and CEO, conducted door-to-door surveys with 150 grocers across North America and discovered their interest in automation technology to keep shoppers safe, speed up checkout and increase sales. His company’s Veeve smart cart features a clip-on device grocers can attach to existing carts; when tested at Israeli grocer Shufersal it increased basket size 78% while monthly spending rose 8% while also shortening shoppers’ trip length by 24 minutes compared with previously.