The High-Tech Grocery Cart

SEATTLE—Two former Amazon employees, Shariq Siddiqui and Umer Sadiq, were awed by the cashierless Amazon Go when the store made its debut three years ago. Although they didn’t work specifically on the grocery tech concept, the two co-workers were among the first to test it out.

According to Geekwire.com, they loved the concept but saw an opportunity. They realized that technology behind the “just walk out” experience was expensive and challenging for a large grocery store to implement. So Siddiqui and Sadiq took the startup leap in 2018, teaming up with former Google computer vision scientist Faisal Shifayat to launch their company, Veeve, to create a smart grocery cart.

Many organizations are aiming for a piece of the $800 billion U.S. grocery market. Companies ranging from huge groceries to small startups are testing new tech-powered services designed to make grocery shopping easier. For the Veeve founders, installing cameras on store ceilings and weight sensors on store shelves as Amazon does for Amazon Go was too pricey. So, the pair created a smart shopping cart that enables a cashier-less experience for shoppers. They hope it will appeal to large format stores seeking cost-efficient strategies to keep customers coming into physical retail locations.

Here’s how the Veeve-enabled smart cart works. Customers enter a store, grab a smart cart and scan a QR code with their phone. This lets the store recognize individual shoppers, who can see their prior purchases, recommended products and personalized deals based off loyalty programs. It’s a critical part of the process that could mean a mass of new data for retailers to use and harvest.

“Instead of check out, let’s focus on check in,” Siddiqui said in an interview.

The on-cart screen provides directions for products in the store. Sensors and cameras in the cart identify items and add each to the bill as they are placed inside. A built-in scale measures and calculates the cost of produce. The cart knows when an item has been removed and updates the receipt in real-time. A barcode scanner can be used if computer vision fails.

Other features include an online ordering system if a product is not available in-store; a system that notifies sales associates when help is needed, such as verifying age for alcohol purchases; as well as security-related tech that prevents theft. When finished, customers swipe their credit card and simply walk out of the store as the payment processes.

“Imagine all the tech that goes into the Amazon Go ceilings—it’s all miniaturized and put into a cart,” Siddiqui said. “That allows us to change the model completely. [Amazon Go] may work for a convenience store strategy, but it just won’t scale for large stores, especially where the ceiling is so high and the square footage is massive. The cart solution works way better—the cost is way lower.”

Currently, Veeve is working with a Seattle-area grocer and is in talks with another grocery company outside the United States.

Facilities management E-commerce Electronic shelf labels Future technology Payment Scanning