ServiceFriday: No Checkouts – The Ultimate Self Service

With the launch of Standard Market in September 2018, the first physical supermarket operated by the startup Standard Cognition, the company is entering the test phase of what could be the future of brick-and-mortar grocery stores. The special thing here? The store does not have any checkouts. Instead, the store is equipped with 27 cameras that constantly monitor every customer inside the store, tracking their behavior and motion that might indicate a purchase.

Footage of a customer’s shopping trip is analyzed by an AI software, keeping track of the items purchased and the final bill is transferred to an app on the customer’s smartphone – all without scanning even one single item. Standard Cognition founders claim that the new system will increase the speed and efficiency of physical shopping by effectively erasing checkout lines. In addition, they hope to improve the shopping experience for customers.

Employees that were formerly needed to man the checkouts can now use their time to help and assist customers, a service that was formerly only possible by hiring additional workers. But while the improved service quality might draw more customers to their store, the real value of this technology lies with the data that is collected through the purchasing process. By analyzing customer behavior in the store, retailers track data that gives them information about the time customers spend with each brand, or in a particular section of the store prior to their purchase.  This data provides the company with information that can be used to better design a store’s layout, influence shelf and product placement, signage, etc. to provide a better overall shopping experience. Standard Cognition has managed to develop a technology that – if implemented correctly – will have the potential to benefit customers and retailers equally.

Link to the article in the New York Times: https://nyti.ms/2NdxcWf

HT Marginal Revolution