Wakefern, the grocery cooperative that includes ShopRite, Price Rite and Fairway Market, announced last week that it opened an autonomous convenience store with frictionless checkout technology at its corporate headquarters in Edison, NJ. The store, called The Pantry, is a pilot to test the artificial intelligence-based technology from Trigo, an Israeli company that provides grocery stores with frictionless checkout and digitized operations.
Trigo’s technology uses computer vision with cameras and shelf sensors to identify which products shoppers choose, and Wakefern employees can shop the store through the use of an app linked to their ShopRite Price Plus account.
“Our Wakefern associates can shop The Pantry at work for groceries they need at home while simultaneously providing helpful feedback for us on the technology,” according to Wakefern’s Charles McWeeney. “The chance to evolve in the self-service space at retail is important and we hope to learn more about frictionless checkout and how we can potentially provide this cutting-edge and convenient technology to Wakefern Member-owned businesses.”
According to Wakefern, it is the first U.S. company to test Trigo’s technology.
“We have self-checkout in many of our stores. We have mobile scan in many of our stores, and we’re experimenting with smart carts,” said McWeeney. “We see a vision for true frictionless checkout in grocery, including support for weighed items like produce and meats, as well as food service.”
Trigo already has several retail deployments across Europe, including a fully autonomous Tesco Express in London and checkout-free Netto discount store in Germany. Many Amazon Fresh grocery stores in the U.S. already feature Amazon’s “Just Walk Out” frictionless, cashierless shopping technology.