Instacart’s Caper Carts to replace ‘majority’ of shopping carts at indie grocer

Dive Brief:

Instacart’s Caper Carts will replace the “majority” of the traditional shopping carts at Geissler’s Supermarkets’ seven stores across Connecticut and Massachusetts, according to a Thursday announcement.
The artificial intelligence-powered smart carts will roll out at the grocer’s stores “over the coming months,” according to Instacart.
The announcement builds on Instacart’s push to serve as an omnichannel solutions provider for retailers as more grocers turn to digital innovation both in-store and online.

Dive Insight:

While numerous retailers have launched smart cart pilots in recent years, Geissler’s stands out for its sweeping integration across all of its stores. The announcement also indicates the grocer sees enough promise in the Caper Carts to replace most of their traditional shopping carts with the new technology.

The switch to Instacart’s smart cart solution will make shopping at Geissler’s easier and more compelling, with the goal to drive larger basket sizes and repeat customers, Bob Rybick, the grocer’s president and CEO, said in the announcement.

The smart carts use computer vision and AI to automatically identify items that customers put in the cart. Geissler’s customers will be able to link their loyalty accounts to the carts and receive personalized promotions and savings, the announcement noted.

“At launch, they’ll reduce lines and congestion while freeing up store associates to focus more on customer support. The carts’ screens help customers easily find items on their list, stay on budget, and access tailored recommendations and deals as they browse the aisles,” said Rybick, who is also chairman of IGA’s Retailer Advisory Board.

The fourth-generation-owned and operated grocery chain, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, has six locations in Connecticut and one in Massachusetts.

Caper Carts are part of Instacart’s Connected Stores suite of in-store and online digital solutions for retailers.

In September, the grocery technology company announced several updates to its Caper Carts, including allowing customers to order made-to-order items such as deli sandwiches, and adding a new in-store rewards feature and improved AI models for better item detection.

In June, Instacart revealed that its Caper Carts were in use at a ShopRite store in Spotswood, New Jersey, and that the carts would soon arrive at the Fairway Market Kips Bay location in the New York City borough of Manhattan.

A month later, Instacart announced plans for Schnuck Markets to deploy Caper Carts at select stores in St. Louis this fall ahead of a larger rollout later this year, noting that the Midwestern grocery chain will also be testing a “Lite” version of the carts that lets customers manually scan items before putting them in the cart.

Smart carts are slowly rolling their way into grocers’ aisles as they look to expand their checkout options, retail media suites and data collection capabilities.

A2Z Smart Technologies Corp. announced Monday that French retailer Monoprix has placed an order for the company’s Cust2mate smart carts. The initial phase of the tie-up involves 250 smart carts slated for deployment at 20 select Monoprix locations starting this quarter.

Earlier this year, New York City supermarket chain Morton Williams ordered 100 carts from Cust2Mate, while Wegmans started testing smart cart technology from Shopic at two stores.