Checkout free retail, with its cameras, sensors, and AI to enable shoppers to grab items and walk out without scanning or payments, has the potential to revolutionize brick-and-mortar shopping. Since Amazon opened its first cashierless Go store in 2018, multiple companies have jumped into this emerging market with their own take on frictionless retail powered by advanced technology.
In this comprehensive guide, we will analyze the key players in checkout free systems, explore the underlying technologies driving innovation, highlight benefits as well as limitations, provide real-world examples of implementation, look at potential future use cases, and more. By the end, readers will have an expert-level grasp of this trend that could very well define the future of physical stores.
Overview of Major Checkout Free Industry Players
Amazon Go pioneered checkout free shops, but many tech startups and retailers are now offering their own cashierless solutions:
Amazon Go
There are currently 31 Amazon Go locations in urban areas across the US after the first debuted in Seattle in 2018. Shoppers scan an app to enter, cameras and shelf sensors track what items they take, and payment happens automatically when they leave with no lines or checkout required.
Standard Cognition
This startup focuses on equipping existing stores with checkout free technology via overhead cameras and AI models rather than building new stores from scratch like Amazon Go. They now have multiple deployments across the US and internationally.
Grabango
Grabango utilizes computer vision software and hardware kits to retrofit grocery stores and other larger retail formats for a checkout free experience. Smartcart handles shopper identification and tracking while Grabango‘s ceiling cameras monitor the store.
Zippin
Zippin combines AI and sensor fusion technology to enable cashierless experiences in a modular way that can scale stores small and large. Their approach uses shelving sensors along with cameras for more accuracy around item tracking.
Trigo
Israel-based Trigo offers checkout free solutions tailored to grocery, convenience, and other chain retailers via ceiling-mounted cameras and proprietary computer vision technology that identifies and tracks shoppers as well as the items they pickup.
And this is just a small sampling as VC funding poured into this retail tech category recently. With installations already globally across a variety of physical store formats, checkout free technology has solid momentum heading into the coming years.
How Checkout Free Store Technology Works
The ability to grab products and exit the store without stopping to scan items or stand in a payment line relies on advanced integration of sensors, computer vision, AI models, and other data-driven components:
Cameras – Networks of cameras visually track people and products. State-of-the-art computer vision algorithms analyze camera images to identify shoppers and track their movements as well as detect exactly which items they pick up or return to shelves.
Shelf Sensors – Smart shelving and weight sensors on shelves identify which products shoppers interact with and can detect when an item is removed from a shelf. This provides a secondary mechanism beyond cameras for item tracking.
Entry Gates – Shoppers check in by scanning a QR code via an app on their phones. This connects them to the store‘s systems for product tracking and checkout purposes before entering via automated gates.
AI and Deep Learning – Sophisticated deep neural networks play a pivotal role in processing raw sensor data into actual shopper and product identification and tracking across stores. The AI gets smarter over time.
Automatic Payment and Receipts – Once a shopper exits the designated store area, the items picked are tallied and payment happens via the credit card on file. A digital receipt gets sent to the shopper‘s app showing all items detected by the store system‘s computer vision network.
This fusion of IoT devices, next-gen networks, and AI software eliminates checkout lines while still identifying and charging shoppers accurately for what they leave the store with based on store sensor and camera data.
The Many Benefits of Checkout Free Technology
Cashierless shopping powered by AI and other innovations brings myriad advantages:
Faster Shopping Experiences – With no more waiting in checkout lines, customers can enter, grab their items, and exit quickly. This leads to improved customer satisfaction.
Increased Sales Conversions – Research shows frictionless environments where shoppers don‘t have to wait to pay convert more browsers into buyers as well as increase basket sizes. One study found a 4% average conversion lift.
Lower Operational Costs – Retailers save substantially on labor expenses with fewer staff needed at checkout. Additionally, the need for loss prevention officers decreases with the built-in tracking.
Optimized Layout and Operations – Eliminating front-end registers and lanes enables stores to reallocate space more effectively. Better inventory insights from sensor tracking also aid operations.
Enhanced Shopper Experiences – Checkout free technology gives retailers data to personalize offers and recommendations via shopper apps and profiles as well as simplify reordering.
Customizable Platforms – Checkout free solutions scale to accommodate small-format convenience stores all the way up to 50,000+ sq. ft grocery stores and stadiums.
Though this novel retail technology carries risks like data privacy concerns which we will address shortly, the benefits for modern brick-and-mortar stores are compelling and diverse.
Checkout Free Systems in Action Around the Globe
While Amazon Go first introduced cashierless shops to the public several years ago now, many companies now power frictionless experiences in retail locations across geographies and categories:
UK grocery giant Tesco partnered with Trigo to launch its first checkout free store in London under the GetGo brand featuring Trigo‘s ceiling camera network and AI for shopper payment and product tracking.
Grabango installed its checkout free hardware and software in Michaels craft stores in the Chicago suburbs, demonstrating how its smartcarts and camera setups flexibly reinvent large existing retailers.
In New York, customers shop for salads, sandwiches, and more at Two Buttons Deep fresh food store outfitted with Zippin technology, never needing to stop at a POS system before exiting.
Standard Cognition‘s camera-based platform enabled mini-market takeoff GoodBuy to open two checkout free locales in San Francisco where shoppers simply walk in and out.
And in Prudential Center, a high-traffic Newark arena, fans use their phones to scan into the Hat Trick Market then grab drinks, snacks, and team apparel sans any checkout hassle thanks to Standard Cognition.
Beyond these hands-on examples, cashierless pilots and planned deployments continue popping up globally – everyone from Carrefour in France to FamilyMart convenience stores in Taiwan is trialing checkout free experiences based on AI, sensors and other bleeding edge retail tech.
Privacy and Theft Concerns Around Emerging Checkout Free Tech
Of course, any technology tracking shoppers as well as the products they pick up in stores raises privacy issues. However, companies are putting safeguards in place:
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Shoppers must consent via apps to data collection required for the cashierless functionality when entering stores
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Individual shoppers get anonymized into data points – images and other sensor feeds are analyzed by AI in aggregate
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Retailers only maintain minimal necessary identifiable data for purchase lookup and audits before deleting
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Video feeds stay isolated in on-premise systems instead of the cloud and access is tightly controlled
As for theft concerns without checkout staff, reported cases have been rare so far as the stringent sensor tracking serves as a powerful deterrent. That said, retailers do perform video audits when inventory shows discrepancies between products selected in-store versus items charged on exiting.
With consumer education and vigilant security practices, retailers can mediate these understandable privacy and theft worries around emerging checkout free shopping concepts. Still, constant transparency and vigilance remain paramount.
The Future of Frictionless Physical Retail Shopping
Checkout free represents only the tip of the spear when it comes to streamlining brick-and-mortar retail for the modern era through cutting-edge technology:
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Mobile apps will allow pre-shop browsing, ease reordering, and integrate loyalty programs with personalized promotions all tied into shoppers‘ checkout free profiles
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Post-purchase out-the-door suggestions based on items already purchased will boost basket sizes
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Computer vision advancements will eventually allow checkout free technology to handle fresh departments with loose produce instead of just packaged goods
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Streamlined grab-and-go experiences will expand to travel hubs like airports and train stations along with more quick-service restaurants
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Integrations with robots for automated inventory scanning, smart carts that detect and weigh items, and other complementary technologies will continue pushing retail innovation further
Powerful as the pioneering cashierless stores seem today, they merely scratch the surface of what seamless physical retail empowered by AI and modern tech can ultimately achieve in the years ahead. Checkout free solutions will catalyze profound industry disruption.
Expert Checkout Free Implementation Guide
As checkout free gains momentum at major chains like Carrefour while also allowing small footprint stores to open with compelling competitive edges against Amazon Go‘s expansion, now proves the opportune moment for retailers to evaluate potential pilots.
If determining the ideal frictionless retail technology for a store or chain feels overwhelming given the array of vendors and options, no need to fret. [Company name] offers custom advisory services based on our real-world machine learning and computer vision expertise around advanced retail solutions like checkout free shopping technology. Our consultants simplify the provider vetting and technology recommendation process via:
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- Side-by-side comparisons of various checkout free solutions against required capabilities and cost considerations
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- Oversight during small-scale solution pilots before enterprise-wide deployment decisions
We accelerate learnings around AI-enabled checkout free systems while maximizing returns on pilot investments and technology procurement.
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