Dive Brief:
- Instacart is expanding the reach of its Caper Carts smart carts offering. On Monday, the grocery technology company announced that several local and independent grocers in the U.S. have signed on to offer Caper Carts.
- On Tuesday, Instacart unveiled that Australian grocer Coles Supermarkets is also launching Caper Carts, marking Instacart’s first retail partnership that brings its smart carts to the Asia–Pacific region.
- The announcements build on Instacart’s growing momentum of providing omnichannel solutions for grocers, from smart carts to electronic shelf label technology.
Dive Insight:
The new stateside grocers rolling out Caper Carts include Bowman’s Market, Maurer’s Market IGA, Neiman’s Family Market, Queen’s Price Chopper and Soelbergs Market. Instacart noted in the Monday announcement that the Caper Carts adoption by these grocers in the West and Midwest is part of a “growing trend” among independents to add technology to improve the in-store shopping experience.
Caper Carts use cameras, sensors and a built-in scale to automatically recognize items users place in the cart. The carts also have an interactive screen that allows users to see their cart total, access deals and get product recommendations based on their location and cart contents. Customers can checkout just using the cart.
“Over the past year, we’ve seen a wave of innovative, independent grocers adopting Caper Carts,” said Nick Nickitas, general manager of local independent grocery at Instacart.
For the Coles partnership, Instacart will bring Caper Carts to the grocer’s Richmond Traders location in Melbourne, Victoria, early next year. Caper Carts will sync to Coles’ Flybuys rewards program and users will be able to scan their Flybuys card or Coles app to access personalized offers and view in-store specials.
Coles Chief Digital Officer Ben Hassing said the adoption of Caper Carts will make the grocery chain “the first retailer in Australia to introduce AI-powered trolleys.”
The partnership follows Instacart's announcement in August that Caper Carts would make their overseas debut at an Aldi store in Austria.
