In the past few years, the topic of "unmanned retail" has been hot for a while. Later, because unmanned retail stores lacked a matching management mechanism, coupled with the technical development bottleneck of some unmanned retail stores, and the popularity of consumers was not high, many unmanned retail stores closed down one after another. The topic of "personal retail" seems to have gradually subsided.
Since the outbreak of the epidemic, "contactless shopping" and "digital transformation of offline retail companies" have become increasingly hot topics in the retail industry. Catalyzed by the epidemic, the entire industry is looking for ways to achieve consumer contactless shopping and digital transformation of offline retail. "Unmanned retail" feels a bit comeback.
So, how can we help consumers achieve contactless shopping while facilitating the digital transformation of offline retail and improving retail efficiency, so as to effectively protect consumers' shopping safety? Smart shopping carts may be one of the solutions that can make unmanned retail a resurgence.

What is a smart shopping cart?
Speaking of shopping carts, everyone is the most familiar. So what are the differences between smart shopping carts and shopping carts?
Smart shopping carts are different from ordinary shopping carts. In addition to the function of loading goods in ordinary shopping carts, they also support users' self-service scan code shopping, quick self-checkout to leave the supermarket, and self-service loss prevention during shopping. These functions are mainly implemented based on technologies such as AI, deep learning, and weight sensing.

Smart shopping carts look very different from ordinary supermarket shopping carts. The smart shopping cart is equipped with a tablet PAD and a self-service code scanning device. You can scan the code yourself during the shopping process. After shopping, you can complete the settlement on the tablet PAD at any time and leave the supermarket. It is also a smart shopping cart that integrates membership rights, accurate recommendation of coupons, intelligent verification of products, support for shopping navigation, convenient payment, and user-friendly features.
Integration of membership rights. When you choose to use the supermarket's smart shopping cart, you need to scan the code to bind the user identity or direct face recognition to avoid login, so that you can share with the supermarket's membership rights. When the supermarket has special promotions, you can participate in time .
Accurate recommendation of coupons. In the words of Mr. Li, a customer of China Resources Ole' Supermarket Shenzhen Wanxiang Tiandi Store, "I think the most amazing thing about the smart shopping cart is that it seems to know what is in my head all the time. When I come to the milk area, it So I recommended milk coupons. When I came to the toiletries area, it recommended me shampoo coupons. These coupons can be used after receiving them. They are great. After buying things, pay for yourself and push directly. The feeling of leaving the supermarket in the car is even worse."
Smart verification of goods. When you shop, you only need to scan the code and put the goods into the shopping cart. If you forget to scan the code, don’t worry. The shopping cart combines AI, weight sensing and visual recognition technology to intelligently verify the product information and check you in time. Make a reminder. This function can also be used for intelligent weighing of fresh products, so you don't need to take the products to the weighing platform.
Support shopping navigation. If you don’t know which shelf the product you want is in, the Bluetooth/light-sensitive indoor positioning technology can navigate to the product you want without consulting the staff to achieve contactless shopping.
Convenient payment. When you finish shopping, you can choose multiple payment methods such as mobile payment, face payment, membership payment, etc. to save time in queuing, and you can self-print the receipt if the payment is successful.
Humanize. Shared charging is set at the place where personal belongings on the same side of the tablet PAD are placed. Mobile phone charging is compatible with wireless and wired charging, which is convenient for users to charge during shopping; the material composition of the shopping cart itself chooses a plastic integrated frame and an ultra-light plastic body, which is convenient Users easily use and so on.
In general, in the entire shopping process, users can fully realize self-service shopping, without having to communicate with any staff, and without having to wait in line at the cashier for settlement, and truly realize contactless shopping.
At the same time, we also noticed that Xi’an Super Hi Technology’s smart shopping cart is equipped with a brand-new antibacterial smart handle. The handle is equipped with antibacterial and antiviral nano silver ion coating. The antiviral activity rate reaches 99.99%, which can effectively block bacteria and viruses. , Can greatly guarantee the safety and health of consumers in the supermarket public health places.
In 2020, since the outbreak of the new crown epidemic, various "contactless" lifestyles have been recognized and respected. In the field of offline retail, contactless shopping has also been mentioned time and time again. Smart shopping carts can surpass the mid-levels of offline retailers and perfectly help consumers achieve "touchless shopping". Undoubtedly, can this help unmanned retail make a comeback?

Can smart shopping carts really make unmanned retail a resurgence in the East?
To say whether smart shopping carts can make unmanned retail really come back in the East, first of all depends on what is the reason for the collapse of unmanned retail. As mentioned at the beginning, the collapse of unmanned retail is nothing more than the market does not "pay the bill" and the technology does not meet standards .
First, from the perspective of market factors, smart shopping carts can truly reduce costs and increase efficiency and bring real benefits. The smart shopping cart has its own settlement function. After the retailer deploys the smart shopping cart, it can greatly reduce the number of cashiers in the supermarket, or even completely replace the cashiers, which greatly reduces the labor cost of the supermarket; at the same time, it reduces the number of supermarket cashiers. It is equivalent to increasing the displayable area of the supermarket and improving the floor efficiency of the supermarket.
For consumers, smart shopping carts can mainly help consumers achieve fast shopping, fast settlement, and reduce the waiting time at the checkout counter. In addition, smart shopping carts can also push commodity coupons and related products to consumers at the right time based on consumers' shopping hobbies, so that consumers can truly enjoy the fun of smart shopping.
For retailers, smart shopping carts can collect all the consumption data and behavioral data of each car consumer from entering the store to leaving the store, including the time spent in the area while shopping, shopping preferences, and product selection. Brand preference, etc. Based on the processing, analysis, and calculation of these data, retailers can co-brand with consumers to carry out precision marketing based on thousands of people, increase customer unit prices, and increase overall store sales.
From these perspectives, smart shopping carts can bring great benefits to ordinary consumers, retailers, or brand owners, and the market seems to find no reason not to "pay the bill." But don’t forget that the cost of smart shopping carts with a retail price of 6,000-7,000 yuan is still high for most supermarkets, and under the influence of the epidemic, offline retailers have reduced their budgets for digital transformation. The promotion of digital solutions such as cars will create resistance.
Therefore, what we see on the market is often some large supermarkets such as China Resources and Wumart Supermarkets are piloting use, but from a market perspective, it does not affect smart shopping carts from becoming the "new" outlet for unmanned retail. After the economy recovers, I believe that smart shopping carts will be a "good business".
At the technical level, we mainly look at two technologies, one is intelligent loss prevention technology, and the other is indoor positioning technology.
Intelligent loss prevention technology. It uses weight sensor + visual AI algorithm to prevent theft and loss of goods. If the goods are not scanned, the smart shopping cart tablet PAD will always flash red to remind consumers to scan the code to add goods; after the consumer pays and settles, With the help of smart gates, the RFID tag on the smart shopping cart is identified through RFID technology, and the order information is re-verified, and the settlement shopping cart is released, and the unsettled shopping cart requires re-settlement.

This type of smart loss prevention technology has been used in Amazon's Dash smart shopping cart, Caper, Veeve and SAI, as well as domestic Super Hi Technology and other companies, and is currently operating well. In addition to preventing damage, it is also remarkable in the use of fresh weighing.
Indoor positioning technology. By cooperating with the lighting equipment or Bluetooth devices in the hypermarket, the smart shopping cart can realize the positioning and navigation in the supermarket, thereby helping the supermarket to optimize the display and movement; the traditional physical shelves of the retail stores are transformed into brand-new digital shelves. The business model of entering the store has also undergone diversified changes, such as: cart delivery coupons (full-time or category coupons), large screen when arriving at the merchandise area + voice push, customers' coupon delivery (category coupons or single product coupons) at checkout, etc. Rich marketing methods, through the introduction of indoor positioning technology, make the landing of marketing activities very simple and fast.
According to the introduction of domestic smart shopping cart company Huiguang Technology, its LiFi optical positioning technology has reached a positioning accuracy of 30 cm. This positioning accuracy can really help supermarkets realize the digitalization of shelves on each shelf and realize the digitalization of goods.
Today, the application of this type of indoor positioning technology has been verified by retailers, consumers and brand owners. Although there may be progress with the development of positioning technology in the later period, it is currently used for advertising and marketing, coupon push, product navigation and other functions. The realization of these functions is sufficient, and the realization of these functions, whether it is the shopping experience of consumers, or the marketing strategies of retailers and brand owners, is a big plus.
From the market and technical point of view, the rise of the dark horse of smart shopping carts in unmanned retail will become inevitable, and the rest is a matter of time. If we go back to the eve of the unmanned retail storm, we will find that unmanned retail’s "unmanned" is just an ideal country constructed by people, which is a bit too advanced, and smart shopping carts and other solutions fit the digital transformation of offline retail. , Is a more practical solution.
After the collision between ideal and reality, it is believed that smart shopping carts will lead unmanned retail onto a new avenue.