The next time you’re at the grocery store, don’t be surprised if your shopping cart wants to chat. It may have suggestions for dinner, or lead you to buy an extra roll of paper towels because they’re on sale. It might even map out the most efficient route around the store so you can grab you stuff quickly and checkout.
Across the country, at grocers like Kroger Co. and Albertsons Cos Inc., shoppers are being greeted by a new fleet of souped-up smart carts that promise to merge your online and IRL experiences. While the idea isn’t necessarily new to retail, it’s taking on a new significance. Three years after the pandemic spread globally, retailers are looking for ways to keep up with our shifting shopping habits. More than ever, we’re accustomed to reaching for our phones to browse, compare prices and buy what we need. On top of new preferences, grocers are also trying to fill labor gaps and maximize sales in an industry notorious for its slim margins.
Grocers have experimented with digital price tags, self checkout kiosks and online grocery delivery. So far the trusty old shopping cart is one piece of the shopping journey that’s by and large remained the same. Which begs the question; do they need an expensive upgrade? With an increasingly fickle consumer and technology advancing at lightning speed, smart shopping carts — for all the promises they come loaded with — are shaping up as more a novelty than a necessity.
