Dive Brief:
- Grabango, a checkout-free technology company whose software was piloted in several U.S. convenience store chains, has permanently ceased operations, a company spokesperson confirmed on Thursday.
- Grabango was founded in 2016 by Will Glaser, who previously launched subscription-based music streaming service Pandora. Less than a decade later, the company found itself unable to secure the funding it needed to continue operating, the spokesperson said.
- It’s unclear at the moment how Grabango’s demise impacts the convenience retailers it partnered with over the years, including 7-Eleven, GetGo Café+Market, Circle K, MAPCO, Coen Markets and Chevron.
Dive Insight:
News of Grabango closing down comes amid declining interest in pricey store technology from retailers and more than a year after the company laid off workers across several departments, including marketing, engineering and sales.
At the time, Chief Marketing Officer Ken Fenyo declined to share how many staffers were let go, although multiple LinkedIn posts from impacted team members indicated cuts hit 40% of the company.
Now, Grabango has shut its doors entirely after failing to pull together the funding necessary to keep going. In a statement, the company said the decision to close operations “was an extremely difficult one to make.”
“The company would like to thank its employees, investors, and clients for all their hard work and dedication,” Grabango’s spokesperson said in the statement.
Grabango made waves in the c-store industry when it partnered with GetGo and its parent company Giant Eagle in 2020. Over the next two years, its technology arrived at convenience stores under the Circle K, BP, MAPCO and Chevron banners. Its technology was also on display at an Aldi grocery store in the Chicago area.
Similar to Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology, Grabango kept track of what shoppers picked up inside the store as soon as they entered. When ready to leave, customers would scan a code in the Grabango mobile app, and their payment would automatically process.
Despite its enticing promise to eliminate checkout lines, automated technology like Grabango’s has struggled to gain traction with retailers. Although numerous c-stores have piloted these systems, most have opted to roll out less-expensive self-checkout kiosks on a wider scale. Retailers are also being careful with their spending on technology as consumers’ budgets have tightened.
Amazon, which pioneered automated checkout with its Just Walk Out system, has scaled back the technology in its own stores and is primarily focused on selling it to vendors in stadiums, airports, college campuses and other high-traffic areas. Amazon-owned Whole Foods Market brought Just Walk Out to a pair of stores, but decided to remove the automated payment system from the locations earlier this year.
