Coles To Trial AI-Powered Shopping Trolleys

Early next year, Coles is set to start begin live trials of its AI-powered shopping trolleys that are equipped with cameras, a built-in scale and a payment terminal too.

Together, they will automatically recognise items as they are added to the trolley and allows customers to bag as they shop as well as watch their running total via a digital screen – similar to as they would during an online shopping experience. At the end of their shopping, customers can checkout directly from the trolley.

Adding a layer of “gamification” to the overall experience, users can even spin a wheel for special discounts after spending a pre-determined amount of money. The smart trolleys will also sync to Coles’ Flybuys rewards programme, allowing customers to earn points as they shop.

“We have been thinking about the future of in-store digital shopping for quite some time, and the way we look at it is that Covid really accelerated the adoption of online grocery, from that time less than 4 per cent of sales to today close to 11 per cent,” Coles chief digital officer Ben Hassing told The Australian.

“We believe that more and more customers are going to become comfortable with a digital experience when it comes to in-store grocery shopping. We have been in talks with Instacart for quite some time over the years but it really made sense as it allowed us to do innovation very quickly, at a very low cost of experimentation because we are not building anything out.”

This trolley upgrade has come around due to a partnership with Instacart, the company that has also developed similar AI-enabled shopping carts for major US chains such as Amazon Fresh and Kroger.

While Woolworths launched its own version of a smart trolley in Woolworths Windsor in Sydney’s northwest earlier this year, it doesn’t have the capability for in-trolley payments, a feature Coles plans to feature with its smart trolleys.

The new trolleys from Coles will first debut at its Richmond store in inner Melbourne starting this January, although Coles has yet to confirm a more definitive timeline for a wider rollout across the country.

The smart trolleys have interactive store maps that show what specials and promotions you can find in each aisle. It comes as the ACCC has already taken Coles, as well as Woolworths, to Federal Court over claims that the two largest supermarkets which jointly account for 67 per cent of supermarket retail sales nationally, were offering customers “fake” and “illusory” discounts.

This week, Coles chairman James Graham lashed out at politicians for ‘politicising’ the cost-of-living crisis to attack supermarkets. Executives from supermarkets including Aldi, Coles and Woolworths are appearing before the ACCC this month as part of a separate supermarket inquiry with the hearings being livestreamed publicly on the ACCC’s website.