Smart Carts for Dummies

I’ve been wildly blessed to have seen, implemented, and experienced a ton of retail innovation.  I have had the chance to put my hands on quite a few Smart Carts.  I’ve seen multiple versions, heard the pitch, listened to the success stories, and understood the use cases.

And…they aren’t smart…yet.  At least for me.  I wish they were. I want to love Smart Carts. But every time I try to use one, I get the same feeling: why did we take the unfun part of self-checkout on the road trip? Was that supposed to make it better?  I should explain because I want to work with Smart Cart solutions and vendors.

I get the model. You scan as you go, get a running total, skip the line, and feel like you’re winning the game. For organized, intentional shoppers, that’s great. For people like me, “dummies” trying to follow a list written by someone smarter, it’s more like traveling with a robo-loss prevention officer who keeps whispering, “Did you scan that?” over my shoulder.

Again, to be fair, my spouse is a better target for this tech. She’s a strategic shopper. I’m more of a “Were chocolate chips on the list?  They should be.  They are now.  Two bags to be sure.” type of shopper. So maybe I’m not the target audience. But shouldn’t I be? I need a Smart Cart. Not just scan-and-pay. I want the cart to say:

• “Hey, that’s not the brand your kids eat. You sure?”

• “Maybe get the large. You ran out halfway through the week last time.”

• “Bread’s in the next aisle. We’re out of your usual, but this one’s close.”

• “Father’s Day is next week. Are you really buying yourself the big bag of caramels right now?”

You know.  Smart things.  I need a Smart Cart that keeps me out of trouble and makes me feel like I’ve got a co-pilot. One that adapts to me, not just the ideal shopper from a design doc. Give me something I didn’t know, didn’t think about, or straight-up forgot. That’s smart.

(That last one with Father’s Day? Yeah. Still apologizing. Don’t judge.)

And I get it; mobile self-checkout has the same challenge sometimes.  And if someone does want a basic “scan and go” (or I’d argue mobile SCO and Smart Carts are more “scaaaaan and go”.  Trademark pending.) experience, great. Offer it. I’m all about choice in retail. Just don’t lock the model down too early. Let it evolve. Let’s get weird. Try some things.

Smart Carts also bring operational questions, and not just how to reboot one. Like any self-checkout model, they have to fit the flow of the store. What customer experience are we aiming for? How do we fit this tech into this footprint, with these customers and this staff? How do we make it easy to maintain? I would love to be involved in some of those, as (all snark aside) I think there are some very interesting things to try with this model.  I start to get excited about where the smart folks could take this technology.

Just need to make sure it works for us dummies.