Let the trolley do the scanning
Imagine shopping in a store and never coming into contact with another person. Simply walk in, grab a basket, shop and go.
The payment has been automatically made from your phone, with your retailer’s club card discounts applied (and your shopping habits analysed).
With the rise of artificial intelligence and self-service tills, a human-free shopping experience is becoming a reality.
However, personal service will become a defining detail of the high-end shopping experience, consumer behaviouralist Sommer Kapitan said.
And New Zealanders should prepare themselves for an Amazon Prime-style shopping experience, Kapitan said.
‘‘What I mean by that is how the Amazon brick-and-mortar stores work overseas. Anyone can walk in and shop, but you just scan your phone and you get healthier prices if you are Amazon Prime member.’’
In-person retail stores could become more of a warehouse and collection point, with more storage in the back and more of a pick-up-your-order style of service, Kapitan said.
The physical arrival of global digital giants such as Amazon would require local retailers to step up in terms of better shipping, stock availability and selection, she said.
‘‘I look at what The Warehouse Group is trying to do with [online shopping brand] TheMarket and I think it has potential, but so far don’t see much takeoff among real consumers,’’ she said.
University of Auckland business lecturer Mike Lee said the trend to use artificial intelligence (AI) and self-service would continue to build.
‘‘The trends that we are gradually moving towards are normally to do with greater use of AI and self-service technologies, but these are obviously not restricted to 2020, and great advances there may also not occur in 2020 immediately,’’ he said.
The weekly supermarket shop could be where most New Zealanders notice changes first.
In December, New World and Farro announced plans to introduce hi-tech trolleys with built-in scanning systems this year, meaning customers will scan groceries themselves before paying at the checkout.
William Chomley’s company Imagr has developed a shopping cart with cameras attached, called Smartcart, which bypasses the need to wait at the checkout.
It’s one of several models of hitech shopping carts being rolled out over the next year.
He said scanning products would become a thing of the past.
‘‘If you have people going shopping three to five times a week then they want to get in and out. This technology is about removing the point of friction,’’ he said.
Rather than being at the till, staff would be in positions around the store helping customers and acting as salespeople, he said.
A recent report from global retail technology company Soti found 67.3 per cent of consumers perceived mobile technology as the most effective way to provide a faster shopping experience, while 76 per cent of consumers wanted in-store staff to use mobile devices to provide a better in-store experience.
But one-third were unwilling to sacrifice personal data security to improve the experience.
‘‘The way New Zealanders shop has changed dramatically in recent years,’’ Countdown general manager Kiri Hannifin said.
‘‘Today, two working parents is the norm, constant technology and communication means we’re ‘always on’, and we all want supermarkets to be quick, easy and to fit around our lives, not the other way around.’’
Online shopping had grown in popularity in 2019, totalling 8.5 per cent of Countdown’s sales in the September quarter, and it was expected to grow.
This year, Countdown will open its first dedicated online fulfillment centre, or e-store. Inside, the store will look similar to a regular supermarket but without the customers. It will fulfil online delivery orders for central and south Auckland.
First Retail chief executive Chris Wilkinson said customers were demanding a greener approach from retailers.
One in five New Zealanders said choosing a brand that operated in a sustainable manner or helped them live a lowerimpact life was the most important factor in their purchase decision, according to a report from the Sustainable Business Council.
In the same report, sustainability was ranked the third equal most important factor when making a purchase choice after quality and price.