Coles to launch AI-powered ‘smart trolley’ following Woolworths digital supermarket trolley trial

New technology is coming to your local Coles store, as the retail heavyweight prepares to trial an AI-powered smart trolley that allows people to pick, weigh and pay for their groceries.

Coles will be the first retailer in Australia to trial an AI-powered smart trolley that enables shoppers to pick, weigh and pay for groceries in the trolley as they stroll the aisles.

This will allow customers to simply walk out of the store via an express lane when done – with the AI trolley to also have interactive store maps to guide shoppers to promotions and deals.

The new Coles smart trolley will use advanced AI technology, sensors and an in-built scale to scan and calculate the cost of fresh groceries all within a typical trolley, but with the benefit of paying at the trolley rather than the checkout, The Australian can reveal.

The smart trolley will display a running total of the cost of the shop to help with keeping within planned grocery budgets, as well as a spinning wheel to offer special discounts in a “gamification” of the traditional trolley.

Coles signed a deal with Instacart, a leading US tech company that works with grocers and retailers, to launch the AI smart trolley in Australia. It is the first partnership of its kind for Instacart in the Asia-Pacific.

The AI trolley will be trialled at Coles’s Richmond store in inner Melbourne from January. Customers at the store will have the opportunity to experience and learn how to use the smart trolleys from Wednesday, before the trolleys are fully operational when the trial begins early next year.

A Coles smart trolley digital screen showing specials and running total of spend. Picture: Hamish Blair

Many retailers are investing heavily in AI to power their supply chains, harvesting customer data or selecting what products to have on their shelves.

In August, Woolworths launched Australia’s first digital supermarket trolley that allows customers to scan and bag items and track their spend as they shop. That smart trolley trial is available for customers to trial at Woolworths Windsor in Sydney’s northwest.

But Coles will be the first retailer in Australia to integrate an AI-powered trolley for shoppers to use as they walk through the store, and that partners with ­Instacart.

The Coles smart trolley will feature an array of tech bells and whistles. This includes an interactive digital screen to display current in-store specials and product aisle locations.

The smart trolley comes with in-built gamification that allows customers who scan their Coles app or Flybuys card to “Spin the Wheel” at checkout for a chance to win additional discounts on their total shop when they spend $50 or more in a single transaction.

“We have been thinking about the future of in-store digital shopping for quite some time, and the way we look at it is that Covid ­really accelerated the adoption of online grocery, from that time less than 4 per cent of sales to today close to 11 per cent,” Coles chief digital officer Ben Hassing told The Australian.

“We believe that more and more customers are going to become comfortable with a digital experience when it comes to in-store grocery shopping. We have been in talks with Instacart for quite some time over the years but it really made sense as it allowed us to do innovation very quickly, at a very low cost of experimentation because we are not building anything out … and allows us to do this amazing trial in Richmond.

“As the first retailer in Australia to introduce AI-powered trolleys, we’re excited to offer our customers a convenient and engaging way to shop in-store, helping them save time, manage their budget and checkout faster – or at their own pace.”

Mr Hassing said Instacart was offering a similar partnership with about 10 supermarkets in the US, such as Kroger.

Instacart chief connected stores officer David McIntosh said the tech company had spent the past decade empowering retailers with the technologies they needed to better serve their customers in any way they chose to shop – especially at a time when the cost of living is paramount.

“With cost-of-living pressures top of mind, we’ve found customers especially love the way the digital screen on the trolley helps them to see their running total and manage their budget in real time, along with discovering further discounts and money off their total by spinning the digital wheel,” Mr McIntosh said.

Coles will be monitoring customer adoption and any change of shopper habits in the Richmond store to see if the trial is successful and if it can be rolled out to other stores in its network.

Originally published as Coles to launch AI-powered ‘smart trolley’ following Woolworths digital supermarket trolley trial