Smartshops

Smartshops: more technological and competitive supermarkets

Shopping is part of the leisure time of users, so supermarket chains innovate technologically to offer a totally futuristic experience.

Smartshops are here to stay, and it is very important to reinvent oneself in order to keep up with and adapt to the changing consumer needs of users.

The end of the year is coming and the search engines are full of lists about the trends that have stood out in 2021 in all sectors, and we think it's perfect, because we all like to be aware of what's going on. We want to go ahead and tell you how supermarkets are innovating globally to stand out in such a competitive market. We summarize the technological trends that Amazon or Microsoft have made stand out through innovation and improvement of the shopping experience for users.

Having an App can make the shopping experience much easier for your users, but technologically it doesn't have a big impact on us as consumers, but what we are going to tell you now does. Are you ready to get into the futuristic shopping cart?

Coop the supermarket of the future

Coop is the largest supermarket chain in Italy and not only that, it is the most avant-garde and modernist supermarket chain on the market, or at least that is how the chain defines itself by using the claim “supermarket of the future”.

Futuristic it is, as the company has teamed up with Microsoft to install high-end technology that uses edge computing and mobile technology to offer its customers a unique shopping experience.

The supermarket has informative smart screens that offer users, through augmented reality, the most relevant information about the products they interact with, as well as allowing suppliers to offer promotional content on them. If you pick up a product, a sensor will detect it and display information such as price and ingredients.

Smart displays in Coop supermarket

In addition, Microsoft's technology includes RFID readers to detect product stock and optimize the supply of products on the shelves,

All this technology integrated by Coop allows users and suppliers to interact with a supermarket like never before.

Zaiit and its Smart Carts

For the past year, São Paulo has had a supermarket that is committed to autonomous shopping by users; automation of services through state-of-the-art technology: facial recognition, use of personalized QR to access the supermarket, facial recognition at the entrance and exit of the supermarket to ensure payment for the purchase, RFID systems for stock control and recognition of references when selected by users.

In addition, the supermarket has installed tablets in shopping carts that suppliers such as Hellman's have linked to these devices to provide users with information on how to combine different ingredients that share a cart or are on nearby shelves so that users have inspiration to develop new recipes.

Zaitt's model is based on a completely autonomous shopping experience with only one employee per sale in charge of shelf control. The supermarket chain sought innovation through the omnichannel experience, where it provides its users with a comprehensive experience through screens, closing the gap between offline and online.

Zaiit supermarket entrance via QR - Image by Hypeness

Sainbury’s smartshop

The UK's leading food retailer wants to alleviate a pain that all users have to deal with: time. To alleviate the pressure of waiting at checkout counters, the supermarket chain has implemented a system that is being very well received by its customers.

Sainbury's network of product scanners

These are product scanners that allow your customers to scan, and pay without waiting in line at the checkout. The scanner can be picked up at the supermarket entrance or users can use the supermarket's own App that allows them to use their cell phone camera as a scanner. So the concept is to scan the products as the user adds them to their shopping cart and then make a direct payment by scanning a QR code at the store exit. A simple and straightforward technology that saves users time.

Just Walk Out from Amazon

If we talk about supermarket technology, we could not forget the pioneers in this field. A few years ago, the technological giant Amazon opened Amazon Fresh Store, a 100% intelligent supermarket.

The Just Walk Out shopping model allows consumers to enter the store, pick up the product they are interested in and leave the store without having to go to the cash register. With this model, Amazon aims to provide total autonomy to users, thus combating the endless waits at the cash register.

The concept is as follows: to enter the store the user must log in to the Amazon Go App and once done, through sensors everything they add to the cart will be added directly to the App's shopping list. If the user decides to return a product to the shelf, it will automatically disappear from the shopping list.

Once the user has filled the cart with all the necessary items, he/she can leave the store without having to go to the cashier, there are no cash registers, the payment is automated through the personal account in the App, which performs a direct payment once the user leaves the store.

This surface model works thanks to computer vision, deep learning and the use of sensors. In addition, Amazon has incorporated the palm scanner as a form of access to establishments and as a form of payment, as the image of the palm is associated with the user's personal account on the platform. A fully customized use of algorithms and hardware to offer an out-of-the-ordinary experience to consumers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrmMk1Myrxc

Soon it will be more common to find smartshops in more supermarket chains, as the digitalization of services is booming. Users want to live new experiences that facilitate the shopping process or at least entertain them while doing so.

The above examples may sound too futuristic for some establishments, however, there are other innovative options within the retail sector that are giving very good results such as Grab and Go or Click and Collect. Two systems that allow Asirios to manage the collection of their purchases without the need for contact, without queues and totally autonomous, as it is the users who decide when it is convenient for them to collect their purchases. Let's remember that the shopping experience becomes omnichannel and it is great to innovate in supermarkets, but we must remember those who decide to have a different interaction with the stores and do not get access to them, but also want to live a good shopping experience.