Israeli smart retail shopping cart company Flow (formerly WalkOut) is teaming with German smart hand truck giant Expresso to create autonomous commercial shopping carts. In the first stage 1,000 smart shopping carts will be produced in a deal worth about $4 million. The carts will be made by Expresso in Germany and the company will help market the smart carts throughout Europe.
As part of the agreement, Expresso will market the carts in Europe that will incorporate Flow’s technology. The cart recognizes products that are loaded and removed from the cart, and automatically updates the contents following the customer’s actions. The shopping list is displayed on an interactive touch screen through which shoppers can pay for the purchase without having to go to the cash checkout. The system identifies repeat customers and updates on promotions based on the history and location of the buyer, and the algorithm knows how to use accumulated data on the customer’s buying habits, including ingredients they wish to avoid.
Flow cofounder and CEO Morin Sarenio said, “The synergy between the two companies is perfect. As the leading manufacturers of smart carts in the world, Expresso has knowledge, experience and expertise in everything related to the production, marketing, implementation and support of carts in a variety of retail sites around the world.”
Expresso CEO Dr. Alexander Bünz added, “At Expresso, digitalization is no longer just a buzzword. We are pursuing a clear strategy of implementing digital solutions with added value for retailers and their customers. On the one hand, we manufacture and sell our smart shopping cart, SmartShopper. On the other hand, we are constantly analyzing innovations on the market and sounding out potential corporations. With Flow, we have found an excellent partner for the next generation autonomous shopping trolley. They are the experts for AI-based computer vision technology for the retail market, and we are the leading smart cart manufacturer to date.”
Expresso was founded in 1939 and since 1945has been headquartered in Kassel, and since 1990, it has been part of the Joachim Loh Group (JLU). The Expresso Group employs about 180 people in several international branches.
Flow was founded in 2018 by COO Assaf Gedalia, CTO Tomer Fael and CPO Ben Pshedetzky. The company’s machine vision technology is easily installed as a retrofit to any standard shopping cart and any self-checkout terminal, resulting in frictionless shopping experience with drastically reduced shrinkage and intervention. Flow’s Machine Vision is further utilized via Flow’s dashboard to monitor live shopping activities across the store, manage and optimize the store’s operations, and for effective upsell and promotions.
Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on January 31, 2023.
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