Popular supermarket chain adding AI ‘smart carts’ in game-changer for customers: ‘Transforming everyday grocery shopping’

Wegmans is looking to the future.

The popular grocery store chain is testing AI-powered smart shopping carts in four of its upstate New York locations in a bid to offer consumers a “smarter, more seamless way to shop in-store.”

Wegmans announced the launch of Caper Carts, Instacart’s AI-powered smart carts, at its Dewitt location in Syracuse, New York, earlier this month.

“This marks the first deployment of Caper Carts at Wegmans,” the press release said.

The innovation — part of the Instacart’s technology Connected Stores — allows customers to track their spending while shopping. The carts will automatically recognize items as they are put into them, and customers can bag as they shop.

The tech — including cameras, a digital scale and location sensors — also allows for a seamless checkout, enabling payment for items directly from a cart and eliminating having to wait in a checkout line.

The tool that tracks spending as you shop could make a huge difference for shoppers on a budget, as they won’t have to anxiously await the total cost at checkout.

To use the wheeled tool, Wegmans shoppers can log in to their Shoppers Club account via a screen on the cart.

“Caper Carts are transforming everyday grocery shopping into a faster, more personalized experience,” the Chief Connected Stores Officer at Instacart, David McIntosh, said in a statement.

While Instacart’s Caper Carts are only being tested at the Syracuse location, a representative for Wegmans told Food & Wine that they are “doing smart cart test-and-learn pilots in four stores — Perinton and Pittsford in Rochester, Alberta Drive in Buffalo, and at our Dewitt store in Syracuse — with two different technology providers,” adding that they “are limiting the program to these stores as we gather customer feedback to drive improvements.”

Whether the technology will expand to more Wegmans stores is dependent on how smoothly the grocery shopping process goes at the test stores.

“Our goal is to determine if smart cart technology is a fit for the unique shopping assortment offered in our stores and if it meets the shopping needs of our customers,” a Wegmans representative said.