3 Innovative Supermarket Technology Advances: Part 2
ANUK has 3 more supermarket technologies that could change the way the retail business is done in the near future:
Self-Serve Scanning
Recently acquired by Catalina Marketing, Modiv Media is pioneering self-serve scanning technology. According to Mashable, an online tech publication, the hand-held in-store scanners and Stop & Shop SCAN IT! mobile app which it has developed allow customers to ring up their own purchases as they shop, eliminating the need for the long checkout lines that are as much a headache for shoppers as they are for managers.
Automatic Checkout
IBM is developing a technology for the Australian grocery chain, Coles, that would a eliminate the need for checkout lines altogether by installing radio tags on store products. As the customer walked out the main doors with their groceries, the system would record the tag numbers and bill their credit wirelessly through the customer's smartphone.
Goodbye Barcodes
Mashable notes how Toshiba has created a new scanner which uses pattern and color recognition algorithms to identify any product in a grocery store. No barcodes needed!
Toshiba's Keichi Hasegawa explained, "Fruit and vegetables in supermarkets don't usually have barcodes because they're put out while they're fresh. So these items can't be read at the register using barcodes which means staff need to input data to record them....[this] can cause delays. We're developing this new scanner to solve that problem."
DigInfo published a feature video on Toshiba's technology. Check it out below:
If you liked these innovative ideas, be sure to check out part 1 of our series on supermarket tech innovations here.
Stay tuned to ANUK for more exciting supermarket technologies!
