Morrisons Tests AI-Powered Smart Shopping Carts in the UK

Morrisons, the UK's fourth-largest supermarket chain, launched the country's first trial of smart shopping carts on July 29 at its Riversway store in Preston. About 30 Caper Cart trolleys, developed by US company Instacart, automatically recognize items placed in the basket and show shoppers a running total of their purchases.

How the cart works

The Caper Cart is fitted with cameras and sensors around the rim of the basket that scan each item as it is placed inside and automatically add it to the shopping list. A built-in scale lets customers weigh loose fruit and vegetables directly in the cart, without walking over to a separate scale in the produce section.

A touchscreen mounted on the cart's handle shows the running total in real time, factors in active promotions, and suggests products in the current aisle based on the customer's past purchases. To activate the cart, shoppers scan their Morrisons More loyalty card, and those without one can sign up on the spot.

The end of checkout queues

The biggest change for customers is how they pay. Instead of unloading their shopping onto a conveyor belt and having it scanned again at the till, customers simply walk up to a checkout point and scan the barcode shown on the cart's screen to complete the transaction. The process is meant to cut time spent queueing and eliminate the double-handling of items that shoppers at discount and supermarket chains using conventional self-checkout tills have long complained about.

Instacart, the company behind the technology, is best known as a US grocery delivery platform, but it has spent several years building out a retail hardware division as well. The Caper Cart is its flagship hardware product, deployed so far mainly with American and Australian retail partners such as Kroger, Schnucks, Wakefern Food Corp and Australia's Coles.

Why Morrisons is testing now

Morrisons' move fits a broader trend among UK retailers looking for ways to speed up shopping trips without giving up control over customer spending. A similar smart trolley system, built on technology from Israeli firm Shopic, was previously trialed by rival Waitrose. There is cost pressure in the background too: research cited by trade publication The Grocer found that 53 percent of Britons have recently cut back on grocery purchases for financial reasons, while 46 percent point to loyalty programs as a tool for managing household budgets.

Our customers are at the heart of everything we do, and we are always looking for ways to make their weekly shop easier, more rewarding and more enjoyable - Gordon Macpherson, Chief Productivity Officer, Morrisons

Caper Smart Carts represent a new era of in-store grocery shopping, one where the physical store is just as intelligent - David McIntosh, Head of Smart Stores, Instacart

What it means for shoppers and retail

For customers, seeing a running total is above all a budgeting tool, one that is increasingly in demand amid elevated food inflation. But for retailers, smart trolleys are also a sales instrument: data from University of London cited in the UK trade press shows that customers using such carts spend 32 percent more on average and stay in store 23 percent longer than shoppers with a traditional trolley.

That highlights the double edge of a technology marketed as a customer convenience. Showing the running total in real time can genuinely help shoppers stick to a budget, but the built-in product recommendations and highlighted promotions pull in the opposite direction, nudging customers to add more items to the cart.

In Poland, similar solutions are still at an early testing stage. Lidl is piloting AI cameras at self-checkout tills, and several retail chains are developing scan&go features that let customers scan items with their phone while shopping, though none yet offers a cart with built-in cameras and a scale like the Caper Cart. The outcome of the three-month Preston pilot will show whether Morrisons decides to extend the technology to more UK stores, which could spur interest in similar solutions in other European markets as well.