Imagine your shopping in a grocery store, and the cart you are pushing down the aisle is laced with AI — artificial intelligence. Every time you place an item in your “smart basket,” scanners automatically read the item and charge your account. No need to wait in line at a checkout counter. Just select, drop, and walk.
This system is already undergoing beta testing in locations around the world, including supermarkets in New Zealand. The concept is similar to what Amazon is doing right now at some of its brick and mortar locations.
At the Amazon Go store in Seattle, there are no check-out clerks or even check-out stands. Instead, hundreds of cameras, sensors and computer vision algorithms spy from every corner to track what customers are selecting from shelves. As shoppers exit the store, they pass through a scanner to automatically capture their credit card information and tallies up the sale.
Other emerging technologies in supermarkets go directly to food production itself. Using hydroponic technology, grocery stores may soon be growing fresh vegetables on-site for the shopper to pick fresh for themselves as if they were strolling through a lush garden.
Hydroponics involves growing plants in a nutrient-rich water solution rather than soil. The roots of plants are anchored in modular boxes that carry a stream of water that serves the same purpose as the soil of a field or garden. These systems can be vertically integrated. Shoppers could walk among the plants as they select the fresh vegetables they want. It can’t get any fresher because the time period for transporting produce from farm to store becomes a moot point.
Finally, food industry observers are excited about the potential of voice order shopping. It’s already available. Some $2 billion in grocery sales are accomplished via voice ordering today, but OC&C Strategy Consultants predicts this shopping method will be a $40 billion process just two years from now at the end of 2022.
Voice ordering is done from home. A shopper simply names off their list of items into a connected smart device. The items are packaged at the grocery store and shipped directly to the customer’s doorstep that same day and optimally within less than two hours.