Shopping for groceries like a game without checkout lines could make a sometimes tedious errand more bearable thanks to an AI infusion into Instacart's Caper Carts. Instacart expanded smart grocery carts with new AI features. They offer a touch screen that provides navigation guidance to the products you're looking for, plus personalized recommendations, discounts, and even a way to turn shopping into a kind of scavenger hunt game.
Instacart created Caper Carts to avoid the need to wait in checkout lines. They have cameras, a scale and other sensors to evaluate the items placed inside, while the screen lets you know what the cart you just pulled off the shelf thinks using Nvidia's AI libraries of product information plus its platform. on-device artificial intelligence processing. You can buy everything before you even get to the front of the store and just walk out when you're done.
However, the new Caper Cart's AI offers much more than faster checkout. They come with real-time location tracking to know where you are and guide you to what you want to buy. You can upload your shopping list to the cart with a QR code in the Instacart app, which then displays it on the cart screen. You can also do the same for sale products that pique your interest, offering discounts based on your location.
If you want more fun in your shopping tasks, there is always gamification. Caper Cart has a feature that creates quests for items on your shopping list as if you were in a video game. There are real prizes too. Adding an item to your cart can result in additional discounted products related to what you're purchasing, such as an extra percentage off soda when purchasing disposable cups. Anything that leads to more shopping will probably make grocery store owners happy, of course, even if the Caper Cart is more expensive than the traditional metal basket.
“Caper Carts are ushering in a new era in grocery stores: making shopping more enjoyable while delivering a seamless experience for customers, retailers and brands,” said Instacart's director of connected stores, David McIntosh. “With Caper Cart’s digital display, we now offer an unrivaled omnichannel experience for retailers and brands in-store. “Today’s news is further proof of how we are truly transforming grocery shopping from a chore to a fun adventure, giving customers a unique interactive experience in every supermarket aisle.”
Grocers may find the Caper Cart attractive not only for streamlining shopping for customers, but also for the on-screen advertising option they can use for in-store promotions and sponsored product recommendations from brands with products in the store. . In this way, a kind of mobile impulse buying aisle is created. More than 70 locations have implemented Caper Carts, including large supermarket chains such as Fairway Market, Kroger and ShopRite, as well as ALDI stores in Austria.