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Pilot projects featuring Instacart’s smart shopping cart at Carrefour Belgium and Morrisons are set to be scrapped, now that the American tech company no longer sees a future for its Caper Cart. Are there any alternatives?
Project pulled the plug
The pilot project that Carrefour Belgium announced last month—featuring Caper Cart shopping carts in two stores in Waterloo—will not be able to get off the ground. The ongoing test by the British supermarket chain Morrisons in Preston is also being forced to end. Supplier Instacart is pulling the plug on the project: although the company says the AI-powered Caper Cart shopping carts are a great product, the business reality is that adoption by retailers has not grown quickly enough to justify continued investment.
The smart shopping carts are a variation on self-checkout: they automatically recognize and weigh items, the touchscreen keeps track of the shopping list, and payment can be made easily at a modified self-checkout kiosk. In this way, the technology enhances the shopping experience. In addition, the carts offer potential for personalized ads, product recommendations, special offers, and gamification, all of which are intended to boost sales. The Caper Cart is used by about a dozen retailers in roughly one hundred cities in the U.S., but has failed to make a breakthrough in Europe.
Potential sale
At Morrison’s, the trial was already nearing its end, while at Carrefour Belgium, it hadn’t even begun. The retailer says it is looking for alternatives, but the question is whether any are actually available. The best-known smart shopping cart on the market is Amazon’s Dash Cart. In Belgium, Colruyt developed a similar “Smart Cart” in-house, which is already being tested in stores in Halle, Kessel-Lo, and Waterloo.
Instacart’s decision may be linked to a potential sale of the company that is reportedly in the works. The tech company, which is facing financial difficulties, has already held talks with DoorDash and Uber, although the latter is said to have since pulled out.
