Fujitsu testing U-Scan Shopper smart shopping cart

The idea of smart shopping carts — with built-in scanners, digital store directories and wireless communication — has been around a while, but hasn't really caught on in a big way. For one thing, the carts tend to be pretty expensive; for another, there hasn't exactly been a huge demand for this from consumers. That hasn't stopped developers from looking for a way to make this work, and the latest to give it a try is Fujitsu, which is now testing its U-Scan Shopper system. One thing that might make the system more attractive to retailers — despite a $1,200 per-cart cost — is the fact that it can be integrated with increasingly popular self-checkout systems, allowing shoppers to pre-checkout items just by putting them in the cart. The system also includes a ruggedized handle-mounted display, designed to withstand the pounding a typical shopping cart goes through in parking lots, aisles and at the hands of cart-riding toddlers.

[Via Roland Piquepaille's Technology Trends]

[Mike @ Dec 19th 2005 1:38AM]

In the UK these scanners are already being used or similar we scan all our items with wireless guns then we go to an automated counter or any desk and hand over the money cutting loads of time off our shopping. They even supply canvas hard bottom bags so you can pack straight into them. Good bye cashiers

[christopher wanko @ Dec 19th 2005 1:38AM]

Really? Goodbye cashiers? I brainstormed this idea six years ago. My girlfriend at the time said, "What's to stop people from putting in items without scanning them?"

I couldn't really see a user-friendly way of only allowing scanned items in the basket. So I married her, ensuring that half-baked ideas from me never get out into the open.

Unfortunately, someone didn't have my kind of assistance handy.

[kemck @ Dec 19th 2005 1:38AM]

Another major US tech company already makes and has in use in the US a device named Shopping Buddy. Currentlt be rolled out in the NorthEast US under several Ahold banners.

[gorkon @ Dec 19th 2005 1:38AM]

Simple. Most products have the weight already in the grocers system. When you go to the final checkout, it will weigh the cart. Machine will then tell you to make sure all items are scanned in the cart. They can ALSO add either a RFID (there goes that one) or even just a anti theft tag that only gets deactivated when on the scale and scanned. I would love this idea.

[Brian @ Dec 19th 2005 1:38AM]

They already use the item weight idea at self-checkouts at WalMart and some grocery stores. It sucks ass. Scan something, put it on the scale, it freaks out telling you the weight isn't right, your light lights up, 3 minutes later moron attendant too dumb to work a real checkout lane shows up, swipes his ID without looking at what i'm buying/stealing, resume scanning your items, repeat.....

RFID is the only way it'll ever truly work.

[jands @ Dec 19th 2005 1:38AM]

What would the homeless use the scanner for?

[stu @ Dec 19th 2005 1:38AM]

I've used Shopping Buddy at Stop & Shop in Boston for at least a year now. It works basically the same as this Fujitsu product. There are no rfid tags, or weighing of items to prevent theft. Rather, you may be "randomly" selected to have your cart double-checked by a cashier. Considering that they have all your buying history because you have to use a store card to get discounts, and to use Shopping Buddy, I don't think there's anything very random about when someone has to go through a double-check.

[honifer @ Dec 19th 2005 1:38AM]

In the UK the "self-checkouts" at the local Sainsbury's work fairly, well, and do help to cut down on queues.
Yes, they do fail with some of the lighter items (as the bags that you put your goods into are on scales I think) but the attendents do tend to clear the alarm quite quickly.

I couldn't see any use in the shopping cart system though. It'd be very difficult (and inaccurate) to put a weighing device onto/into the cart. And again the big problem of the weight of small items being too small to register would require constant attention.

[koz @ Dec 19th 2005 1:38AM]

Our grocery store (Jewel/Albertsons) has been using the Symbol PSS system for the past year and a half or so:

http://www.symbol.com/products/consumer_systems/consumer_pss_ls.html

You undock a handheld scanner with your preferred shopper card and carry it with you. Units talk via wifi to a central server. The little screen shows you the items purchased and your running total.

It's not a foolproof system: not every item scans properly (egg cartons are a BITCH), and obviously you can't buy cigs and liquor with it. You also get randomly marked once in a while for a hand-check by a live cashier. It's also not for the privacy-minded: the Symbol page itself notes that the server notes location and time of each scan. I don't think it's that big a deal, others might disagree. It's pretty easy to set up a card with bogus shopper data.

But I love it. When it's a saturday afternoon and the lines are out the door I can just dock the scanner, whip over to the self-checkout terminal, and my entire order scrolls up on the screen in 3 seconds. I'm out the door in 30.

I don't see why you need to have a $1200 unit fixed to a shopping cart you can
leave out in the rain and show. Maybe they're a little more honest in Japan.

[Carmi @ Dec 19th 2005 1:38AM]

The ROI of these platforms is undeniable. Although automated carts - another example is the Shopping Buddy - seems like a great idea in principle, their high up-front cost has turned some grocery chains off.

Yet as RFID continues its inevitable march and the scanning technology becomes commoditized, unit prices will come down, and adapting consumer behavior to support this new way of shopping will become easier and less financially risky.

Labor cost benefits alone will then compel most groceries to move in that direction. If they don't, their competitors will.

The precedent for this can be seen in banks and ATMs, where self-service is now the default. It's easy to see that grocery stores will head there as well.

Carmi
http://writteninc.blogspot.com