Transcript
A (0:00)
Waitrose unveiled AI Smart Trolleys over in the UK According to the Daily Mail, Waitrose has brought in innovative smart trolleys powered by artificial intelligence which keep track of products as shoppers pick them off the shelves. The small scale trial at the upmarket chain store in the Berkshire town of Brecknell is believed to shout out to Brecknell. Yes. Is believed to be the first time a UK supermarket has has used so called smart carts. The Shopee system is powered by handlebar type devices made by Israeli software firm Shopic, which customers can pick up from a charging bank. At the entrance, a shopper can release one of the futuristic looking units after scanning their My Weight Rose loyalty card and then clip it into a regular trolley to begin the shop. Customers then scan the barcodes on their items similar to how they would with a self scan handset now offered by some retailers, before placing their items in the trolley. Once the item is in the trolley, back facing cameras verify the product and shoppers can pay on the device at the end rather than having to wait in line at checkout. The device also displays the cost for each item as it goes in and gives a running total on the large touch screen as shoppers make their way around the store. Chris, it's been a little while since we've discussed smart carts on the podcast. Does this news out of Waitrose change your opinion on them at all?
B (1:24)
Not really. In fact it probably sours me on them a little bit. I was kind of, you know, go, I was kind of like getting more on the acclamation curve of the smart cart and then now we're heading into grocery shop too. So who knows where this is going to play because you know it's going to be a topic of conversation there. But you know, as I as I read this headline and I still wouldn't touch a smart cart with a 10 foot pole and it goes back to a little bit about what we talked about in the last headline and with Julian as well, because one, the infrastructure is expensive and you don't really know what substrate is going to win out in the long run. For example, the use cases we've always heard about are what you shared, right? One, so that you can serve up retail media to the shopper while he or she shops. Right? That's one of them. And then secondly, the other use case we hear a lot about is that customers like to see their budget in real time. Okay, yeah, great. But do you need the full cart from Instacart to do that? The full caper cart? No, you can do those things with something like this. But then with this, you also have the issue of acclimating the customers to clicking these things on the cart, going up, scanning them, getting them, which is the same with the scan and go units you see in Europe, too. So, you know, maybe it'll play over there, I don't know. But it just feels like it's an awfully big bet and big spend and a customer hurdle for something that may not even have that big of a payoff at the end of the day. So, to me, your money could be better spent in helping your staff actually get work done as opposed to throwing what will ultimately become another task on their plates, which is teaching shoppers how to use these cards. I'd be deploying this. I'd be spending my money on things that are proven that help my store employees without requiring any customer interaction at this point, that's where I'd be spending my money.