arrow
September 5, 2022

Improve Store Operations with Smart Carts

Optimize staffing
Shopper’s in-store journey
Heat map store optimization
Grocery store optimization
share
Link copied
arrow
Share
backgroundarrowsarrowbackground

Smart carts provide a frictionless shopping experience, enable shoppers to
skip the checkout line, and help them save money through in-store promotions.

However, the benefits of smart carts extend well beyond the shopping
experience. They provide retailers with fascinating insights into their store operations, staffing needs, and promotional effectiveness. Deploying smart carts into a store provides the equivalent digital information to a customer’s online buyer journey.

Online retailers use aggregated information from thousands of shopping trips to design their website layout, from how products are displayed on screen to the related products they offer when a customer makes a purchase decision.

Through the smart cart, brick-and-mortar retailers have access to that same level of information, which can be used to streamline and optimize day-to-day operations.

Shopper Traffic Optimization

Smart carts are capable of tracking the entire indoor shopping journey. When aggregated with hundreds or thousands of shopping trips taken over the course of a week and presented as a heat map, retailers have a clear picture of the popular areas in the store.

Broken down even further, these heat maps can show how long customers lingered in an aisle, their shopping route, and which areas caused them to linger.

Heatmap reports can help retailer operations in a few ways. First, it shows which areas of the store get more traffic. Depending on the retailer's strategy, high-traffic areas might be ideal for high-margin merchandise. Other retailers might want to test products that are unpopular or difficult to sell to see if additional eyeballs drive more sales.

Likewise, by identifying poorly trafficked areas, some retailers might want to test placing popular items there to drive more traffic to underperforming areas of the store. In contrast, other retailers could keep less popular merchandise there.

Aisles with longer dwell time indicate enhanced shopper interest, which could make it the ideal place to offer in-store promotions.

Staffing Optimization

Smart carts accurately capture several pieces of information that can be used for staffing purposes. First, it lets retailers know the exact number of people in a store at a time. Second, it can track the amount of time shoppers stand around waiting.

When aggregated over time, retailers have a clear view of peak times and their staffing needs. As smart cart usage extends into the future, historical data will also help retailers plan for peak seasons, such as the holidays, or specific spikes, like Superbowl Sunday.

In addition to general staffing needs, smart carts can help identify needs in specific departments. If smart carts identify long waits at the deli counter or bakery, it might indicate a staffing issue. Breaking down that information by time can help optimize operations by assigning staff to specific areas of the store during busier time periods.

Additionally, self-checkout tools built into the smart cart enable managers to better allocate employees who are not needed at the checkout counter.

Frictionless shopping experiences with data-driven store optimization

Creating the Shopper Journey Map

In addition to heat maps that indicate the time spent in an area, smart carts can generate customer journey maps that show the path customers take while traversing the store. This can lead to some key insights that generate sales.

For example, data might show that there are three paths typically taken by consumers upon entering the store, each one with its own characteristics:

Type of consumerSpending
Consumers who walk through every aisle in orderHigh
Consumers who walk counterclockwise around the
perimeter of the store, occasionally going into an aisle
Medium
Consumers who walk clockwise around the perimeter
of the store, occasionally going into an aisle
Low

That data indicates that consumers who walk through more aisles are more likely to spend more. However, it also shows that consumers who walked counterclockwise through the store spent more than those who walked clockwise.

Further analysis could show that product placement is optimized for people walking counterclockwise around the store. Rather than seeing the higher margin merchandise first, those walking clockwise are more likely to pick up the low margin merchandise.

Under those circumstances, the store might adjust its layout to make it more natural for shoppers to take the counterclockwise path. This simple layout change could help increase conversions by changing the customer’s walking path.

Optimization Improves Bottom Line Results

Most retailers begin thinking about smart carts as a tool to improve the shopper experience. However, their impact on operations and layout optimization may provide even more value over the long term.

Shopic technology transforms standard shopping carts into store-optimizing machines smart carts. Schedule a demo to learn more.

arrow
hello world!
arrow
Shopic in the media

Recent News & Coverage

June 8, 2023
Harnessing E-Commerce Analytics Mindsets for Offline Retail Success
"E-commerce websites use extensive tracking to analyze shopper behaviors. Customers are tracked on which pages they visit, how much time they spend on different pages, and what actions lead them to purchase or abandon their shopping cart. New smart devices are poised to provide similar analytics for offline retailers. For example, Shopic."
Read
June 8, 2023
Optimizing Computer Vision to Improve the Grocery Shopping Experience
“Having a separate, detachable, lightweight device, with no other hardware required, is part of our differentiation,” Kravitz says. “Therefore we must put all of our algorithmic efforts into computer vision.”
Read
May 29, 2023
Trending Developments in Computer Vision to Keep an Eye On
Shopic’s Director of Innovation just published a captivating column on CDOTrends, highlighting the trending developments in computer vision. Explore this evolving landscape, fueled by recent leaps in AI capabilities.
Read
May 23, 2023
Smart Cart Startup Shopic to Present its Solution at Microsoft Experience Center in Munich
“Microsoft has provided us with an effective platform to showcase our technology to customers in Europe and beyond. We’re delighted that Microsoft shares our confidence in the potential of Shopic to transform grocery shopping.”
Read
March 11, 2023
How Smart Shopping Carts Could Change How You Shop
Raz Golan, Shopic’s CEO and co-founder, recently shared with Best Life how this technology will transform the in-store shopping experience. "We're bridging the gap between e-commerce and in-person shopping experiences".
Read
March 1, 2023
Shopic’s Smart Cart Solution Highlighted by Microsoft at EuroShop 2023
“We’re delighted that the team at Microsoft has selected our solution as one of its retail tech partners to highlight at EuroShop. We see it as an affirmation of our team’s hard work in bringing the Shopic smart cart solution to market”
Read
February 28, 2023
Shopic-Shufersal Smart Cart Partnership Wins 2023 RETA Award for Best AI at EuroShop
“It’s a testimony to the hard work of both our own teams and our partners at Shufersal, who have enthusiastically invested in Shopic’s smart cart solution to deliver the best possible shopping experience.”
Read
February 22, 2023
Grocery Shoppers Turn to Self-Checkout Amid Dissatisfaction With Traditional Experience
"Shoppers are happier when they have a better experience in the store," said Raz Golan, CEO and co-founder of Shopic. The grocery industry, for its part, has been working hard on innovating the checkout experience, tapping new technologies to improve efficiency and remove friction for consumers.
Read
February 21, 2023
Shopic To Deploy 2000 AI-Powered Smart Shopping Carts
As Forbes put it, ”This is just the beginning of the Smart Carts revolutionizing the grocery shopping experience. As the grocery industry faces challenges from the rise of e-commerce, it's more important than ever for retailers to experiment with new technologies.”
Read
February 21, 2023
Shopic to Deploy 2000 Smart Carts in Partnership With Israel’s Leading Supermarket Chain
“Shuferal’s rapid ramp-up helps place Shopic at the head of the field for smart cart solutions,” said Raz Golan, Shopic’s CEO and co-founder. “This marks deployment at an unprecedented scale and validates our vision for the future of frictionless grocery shopping experiences.”
Read
December 30, 2022
Tech trends that will transform retail customer experience in 2023
In a new column for Retail Customer Experience, Shopic's Innovation Director, discusses tech trends that will shape retail customer experiences in 2023
Read
December 26, 2022
Why could Shopic's AI Smart Cart be the supermarket experience's future?
"AI is making its way into supermarket shopping through a new technology developed by Shopic. With its focus on customer convenience and merchant insights, it certainly has the potential to become an integral part of the evolving grocery store experience."
Read
November 28, 2022
How Today’s Businesses Are Using Partnerships To Improve The Customer Experience
“Technology partnerships have become an increasingly valuable way for businesses to deliver more streamlined and efficient customer experiences. As Forbes shares: "One great example of this comes from Shopic and its clip-on grocery cart tec".
Read
November 14, 2022
Transform your existing shopping cart into a “smart cart” Clip-on device
TECHBLITZ, a media that connects Japan and the global startup ecosystem, recently interviewed Shopic's CEO and co-founder Raz Golan. "With our unique approach to digitalizing the retail front end, you can enjoy all the benefits of online shopping without straining your store, operations, or infrastructure."
Read
November 4, 2022
How Shopic’s Smart Cart Technology Provides Brick-and-Mortar Grocers With Invaluable Data
"When you collect data from each shopping trip, you can implement changes that directly impact the customer experience and your bottom line. All that information can and should influence the products you stock, the promotions you run, how you design displays, and so on."
Read
September 23, 2022
7 retail AI startups aim to give stores a happy holiday season
VentureBeat says that retailers are turning to AI to tackle everything from supply chain challenges and price optimization to self-checkout and fresh food. Shopic is 1 of the 7.
Read
August 31, 2022
Smart Shopping Cart Technology Developer Shopic to Hit U.S. Market Soon, CEO Says
"We don't build a cart from scratch. We've created a device that connects to standard shopping carts and turns them into smart carts only when shoppers use them. So we're allowing grocers to bring all the benefits of online shopping to their physical supermarkets, but without changing the operational overhead or the infrastructure in the store."
Read
August 23, 2022
Grocery smart carts aim to be the saving grace for self-checkout hate
CBInsights's Kennedy echoed that it has historically been difficult for retailers to "overhaul systems that are really entrenched," noting there's "a lot of value around solutions that bolt on to existing technology and allow a store to be retrofit for the technologies."
Read
August 10, 2022
Shopic Announces $35M Investment to Bring Its AI-Enabled Smart Cart to Top U.S. Grocery Chains
Shopic, the smart grocery shopping cart startup, has announced a $35 million Series B investment round led by Qualcomm Ventures, bringing its total funding raised to $56 million.
Read
August 9, 2022
Shopic lands $35M to bring its item-scanning ‘smart cart’ tech to more stores
"We support Shopic's vision of hybrid retail, where the best of online shopping and physical store experiences merge. Shopic's smart cart, which is a compelling and pragmatic smart retail solution, is helping enable this future."
Read
March 2, 2022
Shopic’s Smart-Cart Technology Won the RETA Awards
We are proud to announce that our smart cart clip-on solution has won the Top Technology Partner RETA Awards in the “Best In-store Solution'' category from the EHI Retail Institute. The news comes on the heels of our recent partnership announcement with Shufersal, Israel’s largest supermarket chain
Read
December 5, 2021
Shopic Joins The Race To Develop Smart Shopping Carts
Using our expertise, grocery stores can digitize their retail front-end without changing their operational overhead. The unique clip-on device easily attaches to existing shopping carts, eliminating the need to replace them.
Read
October 20, 2021
How to Win the Age of Cashierless Grocery
To meet shoppers' needs for speed and convenience, traditional retailers should consider ways to cater to their expectations for efficient and frictionless experiences. There are several ways retailers can streamline the shopping experience.
Read
August 15, 2021
Shopic Secures Additional $10 Million to Take its Frictionless Shopping Solution to the World’s Largest Grocery Chains
Already deploying our solutions in stores of major grocery chains worldwide, we will use the new funds to accelerate commercial activities and expand our team.
Read
Harnessing E-Commerce Analytics Mindsets for Offline Retail Success
"E-commerce websites use extensive tracking to analyze shopper behaviors. Customers are tracked on which pages they visit, how much time they spend on different pages, and what actions lead them to purchase or abandon their shopping cart. New smart devices are poised to provide similar analytics for offline retailers. For example, Shopic."
Read
Optimizing Computer Vision to Improve the Grocery Shopping Experience
“Having a separate, detachable, lightweight device, with no other hardware required, is part of our differentiation,” Kravitz says. “Therefore we must put all of our algorithmic efforts into computer vision.”
Read
Trending Developments in Computer Vision to Keep an Eye On
Shopic’s Director of Innovation just published a captivating column on CDOTrends, highlighting the trending developments in computer vision. Explore this evolving landscape, fueled by recent leaps in AI capabilities.
Read
1 2 3 8
View more
NEW SHOPPING EXPERIENCES © NEW SHOPPING EXPERIENCES © NEW SHOPPING EXPERIENCES © NEW SHOPPING EXPERIENCES © NEW SHOPPING EXPERIENCES © NEW SHOPPING EXPERIENCES © NEW SHOPPING EXPERIENCES © NEW SHOPPING EXPERIENCES © NEW SHOPPING EXPERIENCES © NEW SHOPPING EXPERIENCES © NEW SHOPPING EXPERIENCES © NEW SHOPPING EXPERIENCES © NEW SHOPPING EXPERIENCES © NEW SHOPPING EXPERIENCES © NEW SHOPPING EXPERIENCES © NEW SHOPPING EXPERIENCES © NEW SHOPPING EXPERIENCES © NEW SHOPPING EXPERIENCES © NEW SHOPPING EXPERIENCES © NEW SHOPPING EXPERIENCES © NEW SHOPPING EXPERIENCES ©

Ready for the future of retail?

You don’t have to wait. Contact our team, see it in action
arrowarrow
arrow
hello world!
hello world!