One recent afternoon, the city’s newest grocery market was trying to figure out whether I would buy, steal or leave behind a bag of white Cheddar popcorn — and so was I.
On its side: 27 cameras along the ceiling and a wealth of behavioral data.
The start-up behind this operation is Standard Cognition, which has raised $11.2 million in venture capital and formed partnerships with four retail chains around the world. This first market is a prototype to showcase the technology and work on the bugs. The ambitious goal is to add the tech in 100 stores a day (each day!) by 2020.
Standard Market store manager Rebecca Schiffman with the app the store uses to track purchases.
One of the 27 cameras on the ceiling of Standard Market.
Once the system decides it has detected potential theft behavior, a store attendant will get a text and walk over for “a polite conversation,” Mr. Suswal said.
The growth of cashierless technology could hurt the American labor force; there are nearly five million retail sales workers in America. But as Mr. Suswal has pitched Standard Cognition’s technology, he said, he has found that most shop owners are not looking to replace workers. Instead, they want their workers wandering the stores more, in hopes of luring shoppers back into brick-and-mortar retail.
“They all talk about new services, making shopping more fun, making it worthwhile to shop offline,” Mr. Suswal said.
Standard Market has only 25 square feet devoted to food so far.
The store is a prototype to test the cashierless technology and work on the bugs.
On a recent Friday, a line stretched down the street from Standard Market as a bouncer at the door took in one shopper at a time for the automated experience. The store is in San Francisco’s gentrifying Mid-Market neighborhood, between Chanvi Eatery, a Pakistani restaurant, and Huckleberry Bicycles, a high-end bike shop. People outside were downloading the app and typing in their credit card numbers.
“I was playing with it but didn’t take it out,” Mr. Takahashi said, smiling at his win over the tech.
Ms. Schiffman awaits customers at Standard Market.
Outside I found Mr. Suswal. A minute went by, and a notification popped up on my phone with my receipt: one white Cheddar popcorn and one roll of toilet paper for a total of $1.19.
“That shouldn’t happen,” Mr. Suswal said. And yet it did. He shrugged and said I had won it.