Shopping is the exchange of goods for money. The definition is straightforward, but fails to encompass the various meanings it has for different people. “Going shopping” strikes terror in the hearts of men when spoken by their wives or girlfriends. When spoken by women, it means pleasure, therapy, hobby or sport. When spoken by teenage girls it adds an extra layer of being a social activity and a form of entertainment.
Whatever shopping means to you, everyone has this in common: we all hate waiting in long lines to checkout!
Retail brands are looking for new ways to improve customer experience in-store. According to 451 Research, 86 percent of US consumers said they left a store due to long lines, resulting in a purchase at a different retailer or no purchase at all. This behaviour has lead to approximately $37.7 billion lost in potential sales. So it’s understandable why a frictionless checkout by eliminating cashiers altogether is one of the short-term objectives of retail brands.
You may think this objective is in the not-so-distant future, but you would be wrong. Some retail brands are already living in the future.
Here are 3 retail brands implementing cashierless checkout today.
1. Amazon Go – Just Walk Out
image source: cnet.com
Amazon Go opened in January 2018 its automated in-store system – Just Walk Out.
The system relies on technologies such as computer vision, sensor fusion and deep learning to ensure a streamlined shopping experience. There are no cashiers or checkout lines. The system determines what a customer has picked up before making the appropriate charges to their Amazon account when they leave the store (info source).
2. Saturn Express – Europe’s first checkout-free consumer electronics store
image source: across-magazine.com
Saturn Express is the first European brand to open a checkout-free consumer electronics store this spring.
The store combines a digital shopping experience with sound advice. Customers can seek sales assistance in the traditional manner and pay for items using an app. The app was specially developed for Saturn and allows customers to scan the barcode of the items they want to buy and pay for them by credit card or PayPal. And that’s it! No waiting in line at the checkout (info source).
3. Inokyo – Retail startup
image source: techcrunch.com
Inokyo is an autonomous retail startup and just launched its prototype cashierless autonomous retail store.
Here’s how the Inokyo store works. Customers download Inokyo’s app, connect a payment method and get a QR code. Upon walking into the shop, they wave the QR code in front of a little sensor. Overhead cameras scan the body shape and clothing without facial recognition in order to track customers as they move around the store. Meanwhile, on-shelf cameras track when products are picked up or put back. Combined, knowing who’s where and what’s grabbed, lets it assign the items to the shopping cart. Customers scan again on their way out, and later they get a receipt detailing the charges (info source).
