There is a new era of hybrid shoppers across Europe – those who expect seamless and personalised experiences, both online and in store.
Now more than ever, supermarkets are streamlining how they serve their customers, who have come to expect the discounts and easy payment options from their online experience to show up in their in-store experience.
Customers also want to be in and out of the store quickly, often doing their routine shopping on ‘autopilot’, which limits the discovery of new products.
Grocers are now focused on enhancing their in-store experience with a range of value-added innovations and ways to inspire shoppers. AI-powered smart trolleys are one area of innovation that can drive customers to a store and keep them coming back.
Smart trolleys, like Instacart’s Caper Carts, are delivering this AI-powered innovation to transform grocery shopping into a fun, personalised experience that enables shoppers to stay on budget, check out quickly, and easily discover deals and products that will inspire them in the grocery aisles.
All of this is possible with Caper Cart’s digital screen, which enables customers to view their running total, see personalised discounts, and receive money off their spend through gamified experiences. The screen also gives grocers the ability to customise the user interface to meet their needs, enabling CPG brands to engage with customers as they shop.
David McIntosh, Chief Connected Stores Officer at Instacart, says that smart trolleys are the winning innovation for grocers and customers alike.
“Caper Carts are being used by people of all ages, and we’ve seen an incredibly positive response from customers,” says McIntosh.
“At the same time, grocers are seeing a fast ROI on their investment once they deploy Caper Carts because customers are purchasing larger basket sizes with incremental spending. Since shoppers can see their running total as they shop and access relevant and aisle-based deals and recommendations, Caper Carts lead to higher basket sizes, as customers are less wary of till shock when they check out,” he added.
Winning Innovation
Instacart started over a decade ago, with a clear mission to make grocery shopping online affordable and accessible across North America. The company is seen as a pioneer in the space, introducing the Instacart app, which brought the grocery industry into the digital age through same-day delivery, in the US.
Today, Instacart partners with more than 600 retailers to power their e-commerce solutions with the company’s enterprise technology. Instacart is also at the forefront of the retail media wave, working with more than 6,000 CPG brands to deliver performant ad formats, data insights, and third-party measurement and verification in North America.
With its introduction of Connected Stores, Instacart’s suite of in-store technologies, the company is now enabling grocers to build connected, seamless and personalised experiences for customers. Caper Carts are one of these leading innovations.
Caper Carts are equipped with AI, cameras, sensors, and a built-in scale, which work together to automatically recognise items as they are added to the trolley. Caper Carts are easy to use and enable customers to bag as they shop while watching their running cost total – similar to an online shopping basket. At the end of their shopping, customers can skip the queue and check out directly from the trolley.
Caper Carts use NVIDIA Jetson hardware to capture and process the full view of the basket and items, making AI approachable for customers of all ages. Through the power of NVIDIA Jetson, items placed in a Caper Cart are captured quickly and accurately.
As part of its international ambitions, Instacart is now partnering with retailers to bring its Connected Stores offering, Caper Carts, to additional countries. In Austria, HOFER is the first European supermarket to offer Caper Carts. Since launching in June 2024, HOFER has identified increased shopping baskets from customers using Caper Carts, and that shoppers are very satisfied with the intuitiveness of the trolleys. Coles Supermarkets in Australia recently launched Caper Carts as the first grocer in the APAC region.
Budget Friendly
With cost-of-living pressures top of mind, shoppers are prioritising ways to save money. Caper Carts address this through personalisation and budget-friendly transparency.
Caper Carts enhance savings by linking directly to supermarket loyalty programmes to surface additional discounts. For example, when a customer walks down the pasta aisle, Caper Cart’s digital screen could surface a discount for pasta sauce and notify the customer with an alert directly on the trolley’s screen. Shoppers can also spin Caper Carts’ gamified coupon wheel for a chance to win discounts and money off their total spend.
“Caper Carts bring the beloved attributes of online grocery shopping to the store while unlocking a new, incremental revenue stream for retailers,” says McIntosh. “We’ve seen that 44% of Caper Cart sessions in the US included at least one clipped coupon for one of our retailers, which is an early sign of how we can drive purchase decisions from Caper Cart’s digital screen.”
Serving Customers
In the US, Instacart has found that customers spend an average of 30 minutes with Caper Carts and hear that people seek out stores with its trolleys, even if they’ve never shopped there before. Caper Carts have achieved a net promoter score of more than 70 at ramped locations, which is in line with some of the world’s most-loved brands.
For grocers, the innovative retail technology within Caper Carts allows them to serve customers’ needs through insights, loyalty programmes, and cost savings. Caper Carts are designed for ease of use and minimal maintenance, automatically receiving software updates to ensure that they stay current, with the latest features and enhancements.
Schnucks, a top grocer in the US, shared that customers using Caper Carts are purchasing larger baskets. On peak days, Caper Carts have processed more than 10% of in-store sales at a Schnucks store where only ten Caper Carts were deployed alongside approximately 160 traditional trolleys.
Caper Carts’ technology is seamlessly integrated by Instacart for each supermarket. The Instacart team partners closely with retailers, lending support in store to successfully integrate into store operations and drive customer engagement. Caper Carts last throughout the day and continue to be charged between uses while parked with stacked charging technology.
For more information on Caper Carts, click here.
This article was written in partnership with Instacart.
