{"id":1674905,"date":"2019-10-09T11:15:30","date_gmt":"2019-10-09T18:15:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.retailpro.com\/News\/blog\/?p=1674905"},"modified":"2019-10-09T15:06:19","modified_gmt":"2019-10-09T22:06:19","slug":"brick-and-mortars-latest-ai-experiment-smart-shopping-carts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.retailpro.com\/News\/blog\/index.php\/2019\/10\/09\/brick-and-mortars-latest-ai-experiment-smart-shopping-carts\/","title":{"rendered":"Brick and mortar\u2019s latest AI experiment: Smart shopping carts"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1674913\" src=\"https:\/\/www.retailpro.com\/News\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/cart-640.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"440\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.retailpro.com\/News\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/cart-640.jpg 640w, https:\/\/www.retailpro.com\/News\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/cart-640-300x206.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.retailpro.com\/News\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/cart-640-436x300.jpg 436w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Today, traditional retailers are competing not only against each other but also against e-commerce \u2014 as well as online companies that are opening brick and mortar outposts.<\/p>\n<p>Compounding the pressure is the breakneck pace of technological change.<\/p>\n<p>Customers have experienced self-checkout and the cashless store concept of Amazon Go, and now artificial intelligence attached to the old, familiar shopping cart could reshape the shopping experience.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"color: #6f737b;\">Are smart carts worth it?<\/h3>\n<p>AI designed into the cart may be the next trend that will help customers be more efficient by scanning and identifying goods, suggesting products, storing shopping or &#8220;punch&#8221; lists and directing customers to items.<\/p>\n<p>Stores profit from the AI-driven carts, because more efficient shoppers take less time in the store, so the more customers can be served in a given time period.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.retailpro.com\/News\/blog\/index.php\/2019\/01\/24\/your-retail-data-determines-ai-effectiveness\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u00a0Read blog:\u00a0Your retail data determines AI effectiveness\u00a0<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.retailpro.com\/News\/blog\/index.php\/2019\/01\/24\/your-retail-data-determines-ai-effectiveness\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-1674923 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.retailpro.com\/News\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Blog.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"26\" height=\"26\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Smart carts from Caper tackle the job with barcode scanners and card swipers, mounted cameras that use image recognition and weight sensors.<\/p>\n<p>The company additionally claims the tech has raised consumers&#8217; average basket size by 18 percent.<\/p>\n<p>And that&#8217;s not to mention the positive word-of-mouth marketing about &#8220;the store that has no register lines,&#8221; because payment is completed cart-side by the customer.<\/p>\n<p>Although currently customers must scan products before placing them in the cart, the company&#8217;s goal is to depend solely on cameras and weight sensors in the carts to automatically recognize products when they&#8217;re added.<\/p>\n<p>So far, the technology is at two NYC chain stores, but its potential is far reaching.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"color: #6f737b;\">Built in cross-selling<\/h3>\n<p>AI is particularly helpful for cross-selling: For example, at a home improvement retail specialty store, sheetrock is placed in the cart, and the screen asks if the shopper would like to add paint.<\/p>\n<p>If so, it provides direction to the correct aisle \u2014 as well as displays on-screen any related products that are on sale in the store.<\/p>\n<p>The ease of obtaining additional related products enhances the shopper&#8217;s experience, and strengthens the retailer&#8217;s bottom line.<\/p>\n<p>While cross-selling is not always viewed favorably by shoppers who sometimes perceive associates as &#8220;pushy,&#8221; incorporating this type of &#8220;gentle reminder&#8221; feature at a specialty retailer, such as a drug store, may be viewed as helpful \u2014 a purchase of cough syrup may lead to a reminder to buy cough drops and menthol rub.<\/p>\n<p>According to Caper, the carts aren&#8217;t much more expensive than new, traditional models.<\/p>\n<p>And they are less costly than retrofitting a retailer with Amazon Go-type technology.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.retailpro.com\/News\/blog\/index.php\/2019\/08\/19\/2-years-later-amazons-retail-experiment-is-still-unmatched\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u00a0Read blog: 2 years later, Amazon\u2019s retail experiment is still unmatched\u00a0<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.retailpro.com\/News\/blog\/index.php\/2019\/08\/19\/2-years-later-amazons-retail-experiment-is-still-unmatched\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-1674923 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.retailpro.com\/News\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Blog.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"26\" height=\"26\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>They are also an excellent means of gathering shopper data, analyzing information such as product popularity and floor plans.<\/p>\n<p>Just as a chatbot can be programmed to help an ecommerce retailer increase the size of a shoppers &#8220;basket,&#8221; smart carts are another method of integrating AI into the customer experience.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; &nbsp; Today, traditional retailers are competing not only against each other but also against e-commerce \u2014 as well as online companies that are opening brick and mortar outposts. Compounding the pressure is the breakneck pace of technological change. Customers &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.retailpro.com\/News\/blog\/index.php\/2019\/10\/09\/brick-and-mortars-latest-ai-experiment-smart-shopping-carts\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":1674914,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[186,45],"tags":[175,102,39],"class_list":["post-1674905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artificial-intelligence-ai","category-specialty-retail-industry-trends","tag-ai","tag-brick-and-mortar","tag-trends"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.retailpro.com\/News\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1674905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.retailpro.com\/News\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.retailpro.com\/News\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.retailpro.com\/News\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.retailpro.com\/News\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1674905"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.retailpro.com\/News\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1674905\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.retailpro.com\/News\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1674914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.retailpro.com\/News\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1674905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.retailpro.com\/News\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1674905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.retailpro.com\/News\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1674905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}