The Age Of Grocery "Smart Carts" Creeps Closer
By Anna Rose Welch, Editorial & Community Director, Advancing RNA
As stores explore going digital, expect the shopping cart to be a big player
In 2003, USA Today ran a column predicting that smart shopping carts would be roaming the grocery stores of the future. Even ten years ago, grocers were feeling the pressure to create a quick, convenient and creative shopping experience for their customers in order to keep them from turning to Walmart and its low prices. Dan Hopping, a consulting manager with IBM, was quoted saying, “We’ll see more change in the next five years in the way people shop than in the last 20.”
Since 2003, grocery store technology has certainly advanced — though the smart cart has yet to become a staple in stores. This is not to say that retailers and researchers haven’t been hard at work to make the grocery store of the future arrive sooner rather than later. Indeed, one of the latest innovations to hit the aisles and make some waves was the recent launch of the iBeacons in Giant Eagle and Safeway stores. However, over the past few years, there has been a steady progression towards the era of the smart cart. Back in March of 2012, Whole Foods was in the news for its motorized grocery cart prototype. Powered by Kinect sensor technology, this cart would follow customers around the store while they browsed, keep track of their shopping list, scan the items in the basket, and store credit card information for easy checkout. It can also warn customers if they put an item into their carts that doesn’t comply with a certain dietary restriction.
While Whole Foods was still in the early stages of development, the potential of carts like these continues to be explored. Especially as consumers begin turning to online channels, like Amazon, to complete their grocery shopping, the pressure is on to provide customers with a seamless shopping experience that users might encounter while searching online. Last summer, Hellmann’s Mayonnaise launched it’s own experiment with smart carts, deploying what was cleverly named “Near Food Communication” (as opposed to Near Field Communication) to help shape customers’ purchasing habits. The carts, equipped with tablets and RFID readers, helped track customers’ progress throughout the store and offered recipes that consumers could add to their shopping lists. The experiment was a success, as 45,000 people used the cart and sales of the mayonnaise increased 68 percent in the first month, the campaign director told RFID Journal.
While brands and stores continue exploring digital coupons, digital ad circulars, mobile apps, and experiment with iBeacons to learn more about customers’ paths to purchase, the days of smart shopping carts are inching closer. It’s only natural that carts should become the next big piece of the digital puzzle. In a Progressive Grocer article, Ben Lamm, CEO of Chaotic Moon Studios, says, “The one thing that won’t change about the in-store experience, and that stays with you throughout your entire trip, is the cart, so you should be able to do everything that you need to do at the grocery store with it. It should be your personal grocery concierge.”
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