New Zealanders will be the first in the world to trial new artificial intelligence technology that brings the checkout to the trolley.
When they shop for groceries at a Foodstuffs store in coming months, consumers will be able to use a shopper solution provided by New Zealand-based artificial intelligence company IMAGR.
Retrofitted to shopping baskets and carts, SMARTCART recognises products as soon as they are placed inside – eliminating the need for barcode scanning, checkouts and queueing.
To activate SMARTCART, shoppers simply download an app and link a payment method to their account.
In store, they pair their smartphone with the shopping trolley or basket, and as they add products to their cart the items are recognised and appear on their phone’s virtual basket – removing traditional barcode scanning and the checkout process altogether (see a demo below).
The solution will first be rolled out at a Four Square store in the Auckland suburb of Ellerslie.
The move follows a trend towards more streamlined methods and checkout-less options for shopping, including the recent launch of Amazon Go in Seattle, USA.
The New Zealand store will be the flagship Foodstuffs retail outlet to trial the computer vision technology.
AI specialists from around the world are working on the technology from IMAGR's Auckland headquarters.
IMAGR was founded in Sydney in early 2015 by William Chomley.
