Smart shopping carts get omnichannel shopping rolling

Simply a wire basket on four wheels? Nowadays, there is often more to a modern shopping cart: some retailers are already testing or using smart carts, i.e. digitally upgraded shopping trolleys with various features.

Smart shopping carts are equipped with technologies such as scanners, sensors, cameras and digital interfaces. They offer customers a more efficient and connected shopping experience. Products can be recorded and paid for directly on the cart, while displays show shopping lists or product recommendations.

Colruyt, EDEKA and REWE are already using smart carts and thus contributing to customer-friendly omnichannel shopping.

The Colruyt Group is testing a specially developed intelligent shopping trolley. The products are scanned and registered directly on the 'Smart Cart'. Using weight sensors and artificial intelligence (AI), the cart checks the correct registration and number of products. Payment can also be made via the shopping trolley.

“With this type of shopping cart, we specifically want to cater to a certain group of customers who have little time and want to shop efficiently: we allow customers to scan their choice of groceries immediately. The payment process can also take place automatically on the cart itself, if the customer so wishes. So no more queuing at the checkout when shopping with this cart: it makes for a faster process for both employees and customers,“ explains Jo Willemyns, COO Retail at Colruyt Group.

The use of AI and product recognition should significantly speed up the registration process in the shopping cart in the long term and make shopping even easier. As the Colruyt Group is driving forward the development of the Smart Cart in-house, it is also planning to use the trolley as a digital platform in the future to offer customers additional services. These include support with product searches, recognising special offers, managing shopping lists and much more. “It will therefore eventually be possible to use this cart as a channel of communication and interaction with the customer at the most relevant moment for them and for us: an interesting opportunity,“ concludes Jo Willemyns.

The EDEKA Minden-Hannover regional group was particularly early with its digital shopping trolley: the EASY Shopper has been in use in 176 EDEKA stores since 2017. The technology was developed by EuroCIS exhibitor Pentland Firth Software GmbH.

Here, too, customers scan their items at the shopping cart and can then put them directly into their shopping bag. The products are paid for at the EASY Shopper checkouts without having to unpack them. Searching for items in-store will also become more efficient, with customers in participating shops able to be guided to the desired shelf using in-store navigation. 

The digital EDEKA shopping trolley also includes the corresponding EASY Shopper app: it creates a seamless link between shopping preparation at home and the visit to the store. Customers can transfer the shopping list they have created on their smartphone to the shopping cart via the app. However, neither an app nor a smartphone is required to use the trolley.

The smart cart also has another practical function: if questions about products or the EASY Shopper itself arise while shopping, there is an SOS button on the shopping trolley that can be used to call employees.

REWE is also testing a solution for digital shopping trolleys in Cologne. Here, tablets were attached to conventional shopping trolleys, which also offer many omnichannel functions: for example, an efficient product search and additional suggestions with in-store navigation. The camera on the back of the tablet can be used to scan barcodes as well as digital and even handwritten shopping lists.

Behind this is an AI-based innovation from the Israeli company Catch Retail INC. The AI tracks and analyses shopping behaviour in the form of the customer's route, shopping list and product selection - anonymised, of course. Based on this data, the system suggests suitable items, offers or discounted products and thus offers a personalised shopping tour through the shop. "Catch goes beyond typical product offers; it rethinks the shopping experience. Our AI-based platform personalises retail by taking individual preferences into account, creating unprecedented convenience and efficiency in the shopping process," explains Shlomi Dayan, CEO at Catch Retail INC.

The integration of technologies and AI systems in shopping carts brings an innovative shopping experience to the shop. This is about much more than convenience through a simpler checkout, where you don't have to pack all the goods from the trolley onto the checkout conveyor belt and back again. For customers, the genuine link between the digital world and brick-and-mortar shopping is a logical consequence of their user behaviour. They use their smartphones for product research, shopping lists and payment processes. But retailers also benefit from this technological development: they gain important insights into shopping behaviour and direct access to their customers.

Sources: Press release Colruyt Group March 2024, Press release EDEKA March 2024 and Press release REWE February 2024