New World, Farro to introduce high-tech shopping trolleys

Tuesday, 3 December 2019

After scanning the products, customers still have to pay at the checkout.

Supermarket companies Foodstuffs and Farro will trial high-tech trolleys with built-in scanning systems next year.

Foodstuff's Zoom trolleys that includes a built-in barcode scanner and tablet will be trialled at New World Pukekohe next year.

While the supermarket hopes to bring convenience to shoppers, customers will still have to line up at checkouts to pay for the self-scanned items in their trolley.

Foodstuffs North Island chief executive Chris Quin said the 'friction-less shopping experience' would also allow customers to budget, by to downloading their shopping lists to the tablet and searching for specific products.

Foodstuffs North Island will trial the trolleys with a built-in barcode scanner and tablet at its new Pukekohe store, when it opens this week.

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Customers wanted shopping to be seamless and use technology that made their lives easier, he said.

But self-checkout trolleys are not new.

Similar self-checkout technology is also used by Amazon in the United States at its Amazon Go stores although not with carts. Once a customer scans their Amazon Go app to enter the store, anything they take off the shelf is automatically added to their virtual cart.

In New Zealand Kiwi tech company Imagr has developed a shopping cart with cameras attached, called Smartcart.

Amazon Go stores use cameras in the ceiling, and shelves with weight sensors to detect which item is taken.

Imagr was in talks with Foodstuffs, but the company decided to develop its own trolleys.

Kiwi tech company Imagr's plans to roll out its Smartcart at Farro's Grey Lynn store early next year.

Imagr chief executive William Chomley said Auckland specialty grocer Farro planned to trial its trolleys at its Grey Lynn store next year.

Chomley said the trolleys used four cameras, and artificial intelligence to identify items that were placed in the trolley, or were removed.

This was cheaper than using cameras and shelf sensors, Chomley said.

The trolleys also slashed shopping times because customers paid using the app, avoiding the need to queue at a checkout, he said.

The trolleys cost about $400, the same as a regular metal trolley. he said.

Retailers around the world were looking for ways to improve the shopping experience. The Smartcart helped to achieve that without needing to make changes to the store, he said.

Farro chief executive Bryce Howard said Smartcart enhanced customers' shopping experience.

Foodstuffs North Island property general manager Lindsay Rowles said the general design of the new Pukekohe store would serve as the 'cornerstone for future New World stores'.

'Shoppers will find products that are unique to the local community,' he said.

How to use the Zoom trolleys:

* Register for Zoom online via New World app.

* Pair your phone to the trolley's tablet.

* Scan as you shop using the trolley's barcode scanner

* Head to a check out to pay, without having to unload trolley

* Unload groceries and return trolley