Intermarché trials smart shopping basket

In a store in Paris, supermarket chain Intermarché is testing a smart shopping basket to allow till-free shopping.

Built-in cameras

Start-up Mo-Ka has developed a basket equipped with cameras fitted in the handle, recording all products taken off the shelves, a technology that Intermarché is now the first retailer to trial. A combination of image processing technology and artificial intelligence converts the footage into a grocery list. The servers in the store communicate with the baskets through Wi-Fi and then analyse the images to convert them into a list of items.

To pay, customers have the choice between a fully automated checkout through Mo-ka’s app or the mainstream payment methods. Although the innovation perfectly enables an autonomous shopping experience, Intermarché stresses that the baskets are an addition to the two self-service checkouts and a manual checkout. “The service offers customers an additional means of payment without the need for structural or physical modification of the store”, they say.

The trial will run until November, LSA writes. It is unknown whether there are plans for a nationwide implementation of the system in all Relay outlets.