What Is a smart shopping cart?

Rush hours at grocery stores (during lunch and 3–5 pm) usually result in long checkout queues, which can ruin the entire shopping experience. Stores can opt to hire more staff to sort out this mess, but this will be expensive. There’s also the option of e-commerce, but you’ll have to compete with many large e-retailers like Amazon and Best Buy. The other alternative is to invest in smart shopping carts, which hasten the checkout process, improve the shopping experience, and provide a platform for free advertising. Let’s take a deep dive into understanding what this technology is and how it works.

What Is a Smart Shopping Cart?

A smart shopping cart is similar to the traditional type but with additional tech hardware. The most notable addition is a tablet. But it also features weight scales, cameras, barcode scanners, RFID readers, batteries, communication modules, and credit card readers.

All these hardware components are integrated using software to enable shoppers to do the following.

• Store and manage shopping lists
• Link the cart’s tablet to customer phones for shopping list syncing and adding items to the cart
• Get product weight information when weighing loose items
• Get product recommendations
• Earn discounts/coupons on the fly
• Access loyalty programs
• Get a real-time total display
• Self-checkout

How Does a Smart Shopping Cart Work?

Smart shopping carts earn this smart name from the tablet they have on board. This device has a large touchscreen display that shows customers the product information of picked items, advertisements (product recommendations), loyalty programs, real-time total cost data, etc. These tablets are the brains behind the operations of the smart shopping cart, so they process all data coming from the connected devices, which include the following.

Cameras

Cameras provide computer or machine vision to the system. They capture data about the items you drop into the cart, feeding it into ML algorithms running on the tablet to identify items as you drop them in the cart. Once identified, the tablet checks them off your shopping list and can provide you with more data about the product, as well as other similar recommendations on screen. Front-facing cameras can also be used for in-store navigation.

Weight Scales

Grocery stores usually sell fruits and vegetables by weight. So weight scales are necessary in these carts to determine the weight of these items, while the camera helps with identification. This combination helps determine the price of the picked items based on their cost per weight and weight of the picked items.

Barcode Scanners

Just like in traditional checkout counters, barcode scanners scan the label on the picked items to determine the cost to be paid during checkout.

QR Code Scanners

QR code scanners are used to sync customer phones with the shopping cart, similar to what apps like WhatsApp do when syncing phones with computers. This synchronization helps to migrate the shopping list from the phone to the tablet, so customers can type what they want at home on the store’s app then sync it when visiting the store.

BLE Sensors

These sensors help with in-store navigation using BLE broadcasting beacons placed around the store. They usually work with the front-facing cameras to take you to the products you want to pick according to the shopping list.

RFID Readers

RFID readers read tags attached on products to identify them for automatic tracking. They operate as redundancies if the camera vision system is inaccurate.

Card Swiping/Tapping Machines

During checkout, the smart shopping cart handles this process using card swiping or tapping machines. Since most people use mobile payments, the cart should also include a mobile payment system to allow customers to pay directly using their phones.

Batteries

These shopping carts should run for at least an entire shift (8 hours) before requiring a recharge. Therefore, their battery packs should be large enough to handle all the onboard electronics for that duration.

Benefits of Using Smart Shopping Carts

Smart shopping carts are beneficial to both customers and store owners in these ways.

Benefits to Customers

Gamification

Spin-the-wheel coupons for earning discounts and lights or sounds that make customers feel like they are on a conquest to complete their shopping lists are some of the gamification options you can use to make the shopping experience more exciting.

Personalized Shopping Experience

Personalization begins with shopping list importation into the cart’s tablet and custom navigation to take you to the items you need as per your shopping list. Such an experience feels more personal, which is better for customers and can include access to loyalty programs to earn loyalty points, coupons, or discounts.

Instant Product Information

Researcher shoppers always buy products that give them the best value for their money, meaning they need product information for comparison purposes. The onboard tablets make this information easily accessible to such buyers.

Benefits to Store Owners

Upselling and Cross-Selling

The tablets on smart shopping carts provide advertising platforms for upselling and cross-selling to give similar or better product recommendations, as well as items that should be bought together. They can also be used to inform customers of new products or product versions that are related to what is on the shopping list, as well as clearance sales, and offers to move as much inventory from the shelves to the cart.

Increased Customer Spending

By enhancing the customer experience, shoppers will spend more time in grocery stores, which is likely to lead to more spending.

Better Data Collection

Smart shopping carts provide an avenue for collecting customer data for analytics, which can help to identify shopping patterns and provide better product recommendations to lead to more purchases.

Wrapping Up

To be profitable in business, you must stand out, and smart shopping carts can help you do that if you are a retailer. But these devices need some investment in tech, especially in developing the core part of the system, which is the tablet. This is where WellPCB comes in. The company specializes in PCB manufacturing and assembly services, and a well-functioning PCB is critical to the operational reliability of the tablet. So get in touch with them to learn more about how you can partner in building smart shopping carts either for your store chain or to sell this technology to store chains.