Giant Eagle, Calif. startup develop new way to skip checkout line
Giant Eagle shoppers are already able to pick up a bag of groceries at the curb or have their order delivered to their door, but they may soon have another way to skip the line inside the store.
The O’Hara- based grocer is testing out technology that would allow a checkout- free experience.
The supermarket chain is working with Grabango, a Berkeley, Calif.- based startup founded in 2016 by Will Glaser, the former chief technology officer and co- founder of Pandora Radio.
Testing is being done at Giant Eagle’s GetGo convenience store in Fox Chapel. But drivers filling up their tanks there likely won’t notice any big changes yet.
“We are in a very early pilot stage right now,” Giant Eagle spokeswoman Jannah Jablonowski said. “We’re probably 12 months or so before there will be a customer- facing opportunity.” The company then will likely roll out the “frictionless” checkout in select stores.
“We want to make sure it’s something customers are comfortable with,” Ms. Jablonowski said.
As for what customers can expect, the company is exploring a couple of options.
One is an app- based technology in which purchases would be tracked when a shopper enters the store and starts picking up items. Another would use computer vision and machine learning to track shopped items.
“It wouldn’t use facial recognition, which people are sensitive to,” Ms. Jablonowski said.
Part of the test is how it would connect to the company’s Advantage Card loyalty program.
Amazon launched checkout- free stores in Seattle in 2016 based around the Amazon Go app. The Seattle- based e- commerce giant now has 13 locations and counting in cities such as Chicago, New York and San Francisco.
Amazon describes its checkoutfree technology as similar to the systems used in self- driving cars: “Computer vision, sensor fusion, and deep learning.” Cameras and sensors detect when products are taken from or returned to the shelves, then track them in a virtual cart. After customers leave, Amazon sends a receipt and charges their Amazon account.
In a blog post, Grabango’s chief marketing officer, Andrew Radlow, wrote that Tuesday’s announcement is a “harbinger of many announcements to come in the retail- tech industry.”
“True, checkout- free technology eliminates lines at checkout, and it also unlocks a variety of customeroriented, loss prevention, safety, merchandising and operational efficiency applications as well.”