Dive Brief:
- Urban Value Corner Store has rolled out AI-powered Smart Store Coolers made to operate as unmanned micro-markets in residential communities, according to a Saturday announcement from the company.
- The coolers, created in conjunction with smart retail company Micromart, let customers tap a credit card or digital wallet to open the door, then automatically record what the customer takes and bill them.
- Urban Value is leveraging its partnership with distributor McLane to determine each smart cooler’s contents from a list of thousands of items, enabling the retailer to cater to consumers’ tastes.
Dive Insight:
Although frictionless checkout has not taken off at convenience stores broadly, it is finding a home in some of the industry’s niche applications. Urban Value, which operates nearly a dozen small stores inside residential communities in Texas, is using Smart Store Coolers to build a presence in areas where it could not afford to place a fully staffed store.
The coolers are expected to have 99.5% recognition accuracy and 99.9% uptime, according to the release. Micromart’s technology is already being used in more than 900 locations in North America.
Urban Value, which opened its 11th store earlier this year, said these coolers can be used in developments with as few as 200 to 400 units. Urban Value will handle inventory, stocking and pricing of the items in the coolers, as well as promotions.
These smart coolers are not Urban Value’s first foray into frictionless retail. The company also opened its first Juxta-powered convenience store last summer, with plans to open several such locations. Those sites are 300-square-foot stores that customers scan a card to enter, select their items and walk out.
