SHOPRITE has revealed its latest retail innovation, Checkers Rush. It is an automated, cashless, no queues, no checkout, no waiting concept store.
Employees can grab products and walk out. Using advanced AI camera technology to identify the products being taken off the shelves, Checkers Rush bills users’ bank cards upon exit.
The group released a video which illustrated how purchasing in the store works. The video showed an employee scanning their cellphone before entering the store, grabbing a few products from the shelves, and then swiping their hand over a contactless sensor before walking out.
The store is at the offices of Shoprite’s new digital business unit ShopriteX, which was launched on Wednesday.
Shoprite Group chief executive Pieter Engelbrecht said the Checkers Rush store was one of the numerous digital innovations under development.
“The next era of growth for us is about precision retailing. ShopriteX will use our rich customer data to supercharge a ‘Smarter Shoprite’ and ultimately fuse the best of digital with our operational strength across the continent,” he said.
The company said it had a hub that had 250 team members, which included data scientists, and e-commerce and personalisation experts, who were working side by side with Shoprite’s IT team combined with a team of more than 1 000 people to create and implement innovations.
Neil Schreuder, the chief of strategy and Innovation, said: “Shoprite to the power of X represents the exponential growth opportunity when you combine the best of data, tech, and talent with the scale of the Shoprite Group”.
“Through a culture of innovation and start-up-like pace, our teams are making grocery shopping more personalised for customers while removing friction from the retail experience,” said Schreuder.
The group had wanted to launch similar stores in January 2017 but had problems with the tracking technology when more than 20 people were in the store at the same time.
Shoprite did not reveal any details around plans for a public launch.