Get- Go store launches checkout- free shopping
After about a year of testing, GetGo is launching checkout- free shopping at its Waterworks convenience store in Fox Chapel.
“We’re excited to bring checkoutfree technology to our Pittsburgharea shoppers,” said Laura Karet, president and CEO of Giant Eagle Inc. — GetGo’s parent company — in a statement. The O’Hara- based grocer is working with a Berkeley, Calif.- based startup called Grabango. It was founded in 2016 by Will Glaser, the co- founder of Pandora Radio and its former chief technology officer.
The technology, first announced as a test last summer, comes at a time when consumers are embracing shopping methods that limit in- person interactions due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Shoppers in Fox Chapel can skip the line by downloading the Grabango app and connecting their account to a Giant Eagle Advantage Card, the company’s loyalty card program. Then, they can shop as usual.
The system uses overhead sensors to automatically keep track of all the items a customer selects. Shoppers bypass the checkout counter by scanning the code in their app on the way out of the store.
“With Grabango, our GetGo guests are able to get in, get out and get going even faster with a more convenient, contactless shopping experience,” Ms. Karet said. “We look forward to rolling out more Grabango- powered convenience and grocery stores in the near future.”
The use of the technology in the Fox Chapel GetGo marks the industry’s “first true retrofit of an existing store,” the companies said, and “the system prioritizes guest privacy as Grabango does not use facial recognition.”
E- commerce giant Amazon first launched checkout- free stores in Seattle in 2016 based around the Amazon Go app.
Amazon describes its checkoutfree technology as similar to systems used in self- driving cars: “Computer vision, sensor fusion, and deep learning.”
Like Grabango, Amazon’s system uses cameras and sensors to detect when products are taken from or returned to the shelves and tracks them in a virtual cart. After customers leave, Amazon sends a receipt and charges their account.