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Smart Shopping Carts: Self-Checkout on the Go

smart shopping cart

Grocery shopping is one of life’s necessary evils. Who hasn’t circled a store several times trying to locate that one ingredient—or find an employee who can direct you to it? And then there are the long checkout lines. Self-serve kiosks speed things up a bit, but they can be glitchy, not recognizing the item you’ve already put into the bag.

And overall traditional systems are not hugely efficient. Shoppers need to put goods from the cart onto the self-checkout counter, from there on a scale, and then back into the cart again before leaving the store.

Fortunately, all those frustrations may soon be a thing of the past. Innovative technologies can provide the ultimate in self-checkout with smart carts that let customers shop, scan, and go.

“There’s high demand for non-human interaction compared to the traditional way of shopping, putting everything on the belt, and having a chat with the cashier,” says Bernard van Strien, marketing and communications manager for faytech AG, a leader in touchscreen solutions . “While some people will still prefer this method, the grocery store is slowly becoming more modern, and technology can make the experience better for customers and stores.”

The Smart Shopping Cart Experience

Smart retail carts like the EASY Shopper , created through a partnership between faytech AG and Pentland Firth Software GmbH, deliver a unique, streamlined experience. Before entering the store, customers have the option to make a shopping list with the solution app. Once inside, they activate their cart by scanning their smartphone QR code.

If the customer made a list, it would appear on a touchscreen on the cart. The screen will also display a map of the store to help customers find the items they want and give shoppers the shortest route for gathering their items. It also shares personalized promotions or special offers.

As shoppers move through the store, they scan their groceries using the barcode scanner and put them into the cart, starting the checkout process cashier-free. When they’re ready to leave, the shopper scans their QR customer code again at a cashier station, where the transaction is verified and completed. The shopper can pay directly within the app using preloaded banking information, or they can provide a credit or debit card or cash.

#SmartCarts not only improve the #CustomerExperience; they enable stores to gather insights. @FayTechUSA via @insightdottech

This easy process not only speeds things up for the customer, but also gives more time for the cashiers, who can perform other tasks within the store ( Video 1 ).

New Opportunities with Retail Analytics

Smart carts not only improve the customer experience; they enable stores to gather insights. When the shopper scans their QR code to login, the system’s analytics starts collecting information about the purchasing behavior of the customer. For example, it tracks the length of the shopping session, what is put in the cart, and what is put back.

Insights drive marketing opportunities. Targeted ads are displayed on the cart’s screen as the customer navigates the store, suggesting items that complement what they have in their carts and offering targeted offers. This capability opens the door for new forms of revenue.

“Stores can offer contracts to brands,” says Bernard. “For example, they can create popup messages for customers who walk down certain aisles. This creates new revenue opportunities for the retailer.”

­­The technology also helps reduce theft. The cart can include a video camera and a scale. Every product has its own weight in the system, and the cart can tell if there is a discrepancy. At the checkout, the cashier will be notified if something is off, and they can check to see if something wasn’t scanned.

Retailer Rolls Out Innovations

Edeka, one of the largest supermarket chains in Germany, uses the solution in about 60 of its stores, with plans to expand to 40 more by the end of 2021, says Bernard.

“Their goal in rolling out EASY Shopper was to step away from the traditional way of shopping and provide a more modern, innovative solution,” he says. The technology solves many of their challenges, such as finding creative ways to upsell or cross-sell products and speed up the checkout process, which had been slow.

Cart-to-Cloud Retail Tech

EASY Shopper runs on an Intel ® processor-based PC and connects to a private server through Microsoft Azure cloud. The cart integrates directly to a store’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform, which provides real-time updates for pricing and inventory.

If the cart loses its wireless connection, the shopping and payment process can continue, says Bernard. The components are ruggedized and can be taken outside if it’s raining or withstand bumps or shocks in a parking lot. Additionally, the GPS function allows the retailer to constantly track the location of the cart, which in turn prevents theft, also in the parking lot.

And the technology itself is completely customizable. In the end, it’s the flexibility to meet the shopper where they are in terms of the experience that they’re looking for. By removing the frustrations and challenges of the store experience, grocers and shoppers can both benefit.

“It’s really what your imagination might lead you to,” says Bernard. “The platform is designed so that if you’ve got a great idea, you’ve got the right software, the right skills, you can create an integrated solution, for your particular use case in the retail space.”

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How Smart Shopping Cart Technology is Changing the Way We Shop

December 27, 2022

Retail business owners, it’s no secret that consumers are long searching for a way to make their shopping experiences frictionless, pleasant, and efficient. And when it comes to the grocery store, and other stores of the like, this more than applies, especially when you consider how technology has been changing the way consumers shop, from online shopping to frictionless payments.

Fortunately, with the introduction of smart shopping carts, it seems technology is finally catching up with consumer demands. 

But what exactly is smart shopping cart technology ? 

Simply put, it is a weighing scale built into shopping carts to ease the shopping experience.

While this type of technology isn’t universal just yet, it could only be a matter of time until smart shopping cart technology is in every grocery store and other retail settings everywhere. Let’s take a closer look at this growing trend and how smart shopping cart technology is contributing to a better shopping experience for everyone.

Streamline Checkout

Shoppers have always preferred the checkout process to be as streamlined as possible. Nobody likes standing in long lines, especially when they have frozen goods or other perishable items in their cart that need to be put away as quickly as possible. 

Consequently, the COVID-19 pandemic made streamlined checkout more than a luxury. Retail businesses, especially grocers, needed to make the checkout experience faster and more autonomous, cutting down on face-to-face interactions between customers and employees while also reducing the time customers wait in line and errors. 

Smart cart weighing scales are helping to address all of these needs and desires from consumers, changing the way people shop for the better.

The Solution

Smart carts have become possible thanks to technology that’s often called computer vision AI. This type of artificial intelligence uses both a weighted scale and recognition technology to detect when any item is added to a shopping cart regardless of the angle at which placed in the cart. The technology can also accurately identify when multiple items are placed in the cart at the same time and when items are removed. In other words, smart carts know everything that a consumer is putting into or taking out of their cart. It doesn’t matter if it’s a packaged item or a piece of fresh produce. The scale and recognition technology can detect everything rapidly, accurately, and efficiently.

With the weight and recognition technology working together, some smart carts are capable of adding up the cost of every item in the shopping cart. Naturally, with these carts, shoppers are also able to pay for their items using smart shopping cart technology without needing to visit a checkout line or unload everything from their cart at a self-service checkout. 

This technology is even capable of making suggestions to shoppers based on the items in their carts. After all, there are always shopping patterns with specific items used in conjunction with other products. 

Smart cart technology is available in multiple forms. In some instances, there will be specifically designed carts that have scales built in and come with the necessary hardware. 

However, a more flexible approach is the plug-and-play configuration. In this form, grocery stores are able to clip the scale and product recognition attachment to the cart, giving shoppers the option of using this technology or doing things the old-fashioned way.

This approach ensures the solution can be mounted on all common shopping cart designs and can be retrofitted to existing carts. Therefore, grocery stores don't need to spend extra money purchasing new suitable carts. 

Improving Self Checkout

smart cart business plan

To their credit, grocery stores have done a good job of increasing the self-checkout options available for customers. However, there are still plenty of flaws that need to be worked out in this area. Most of the time, there is still an employee attending to the self-checkout area. In certain situations, they are even asked to intervene or assist a customer with the self-checkout process, which means the process doesn’t flow as naturally as it could, taking away some of the benefits of self-checkout.

However, smart shopping cart technology takes self-checkout a step further, reducing some of the lagging bottlenecks. For starters, the smart carts recognize everything going into the cart, which means consumers don’t have to go through the process of scanning everything again at the self-checkout station. Thereby, saving consumer time, and allowing retailers to reduce losses and self-checkout errors.

Of course, customers won’t completely be on their own with smart shopping cart technology. In most cases, the technology also comes with a “help” button that can send an alert to employees that a customer is in need of assistance or has a question. Employees will know the location of the customer and the cart wherever the “help” button is pressed, making it easy to locate them within the store and solve the problem as quickly as possible.

Making Stores More Efficient

Again, shoppers won’t be the only ones benefiting from smart shopping cart technology. Stores will reap plenty of benefits from the technology, including collecting data on how to be more efficient. For instance, the technology is tracking every item that’s being placed in shopping carts, making it easier to track inventory and keep items in stock. This is something that has become more of a challenge given the recent issues with the supply chain, so using smart technology to alleviate this concern is a great benefit for stores.

By gathering data on every item that’s placed in a shopping cart, stores can also learn how to improve the layout of the store, organizing products in a way that makes more sense. This will help streamline the process for consumers and also help stores attract more business by offering a better customer experience. On top of that, with the reduced need for checkout counters that will come with smart shopping cart technology, stores can use space more efficiently and perhaps increase the number of items they carry, which will also help consumers in the long run. 

Working Out the Kinks

smart cart business plan

Despite all of the benefits that smart shopping cart technology offers, like many advancements in technology, it doesn’t come without its kinks. For starters, employees typically bring personal items with them to place in their shopping carts. These items will impact the scale and the camera recognizing everything that’s placed inside the cart. Customers also need to bring reusable bags or receive bags from the store for transporting their goods home, which adds another step to an otherwise streamlined process. 

Of course, paying with cash is out of the question when using smart carts - but with the move toward cashless payments, this kink will iron itself out shortly. 

It’s also been a challenge for businesses using smart carts to integrate the purchase of alcohol, prescription drugs from the store’s pharmacy, and gift cards into the system. 

However, minor flaws and kinks aside, smart shopping cart technology appears to be the way of the future, especially in grocery stores. In the aftermath of the pandemic, there is more of a need for this type of technology and shopping experience than ever before. With a host of benefits for both consumers and stores, there is almost nothing that can stop smart carts from becoming more prevalent in the future and continuing to change the way we shop.

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