Supermarket Perimeter - October 2021 - 6

the
WIRE
Consumers
spending more per
shopping occasion
US consumers are
spending more on each
shopping occasion, at a
physical store or through
online shopping, due to
the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to The
NPD Group, average
shopping occasion
spending has remained
elevated at or above a
$34 average in March
of 2020, through July
2021. This is due in part
to a general shift toward
online purchasing, where
average selling prices
and the amount spent on
each transaction tend to
be higher. The number of
shopping occasions per
week is still lower than
2019 levels, indicating
that the sales lift is
primarily caused by an
increase in stock-up
purchasing behavior, as
consumers buy more on
each occasion.
" Fewer shopping
trips to limit in-person
contact at retail stores,
combined with supplychain
challenges making
fewer products available,
means consumers are
more willing to spend
more now to get the
products they need, " says
6 - OCTOBER 2021
Marshal Cohen, retail
chief industry advisor
for NPD. " This dynamic
alters the traditional
cadence of product
seasonality and creates
less price sensitivity. "
Since March 2020, the
average amount spent
per shopping occasion
each month has been
between 13% and 29%
higher than the same
month in the prior year.
" The evolving
pandemic lifestyle is
already influencing what
consumers are buying, "
says Cohen. " Layer
on reduced in-store
shopping frequency, and
the continued strength of
online shopping, and the
critical role of impulse
shopping will remain
muffled. "
Mercatus offers
tool to integrate
Instacart
with existing
eCommerce sites
Mercatus is now offering
the Instacart Connect
integration to its retail
clients, which enables
Mercatus-powered
grocery retailers to use
the Instacart fulfillment
infrastructure to pick,
pack and deliver orders,
without giving up control
over the customer
relationship.
With the new tool,
consumers can go
directly to their preferred
grocer's eCommerce
site to place their orders,
instead of going through
the Instacart marketplace
for their delivery service.
Behind the scenes, the
order is placed and then
routed from the retailerowned
site to Instacart,
online, like assortment,
pricing, promotions,
upsells, time-slots and
customer service, are in
a much better position
to create stronger bonds
via a more seamless
experience. "
New checkout
platform fits on
shopping carts
WalkOut, the developer
of an autonomous
multiple high-precision
cameras, which
utilize many different
proprietary algorithms
to accurately recognize
products, identify the
items as shoppers load or
remove them with 99.2%
accuracy, according to
the company.
Through a large
touchscreen, the device
also communicates
with the customer
WalkOut's device can be retrofitted onto any shopping cart and can
identify each item placed into or removed from the cart.
which dispatches an
Instacart shopper to pick,
pack and handoff (or
deliver) the order to the
customer.
" We know that building
digital connections that
result in a more-lasting
customer loyalty is vital
to ensuring grocers
have a healthier, more
valuable eCommerce
proposition, " said Sylvain
Perrier, president and
chief executive officer
of Mercatus. " Grocers
that own the customer
connections and control
more elements when
a customer shops
supermarketperimeter.com
end-to-end checkout
platform, is introducing
a device that can be
retrofitted onto any
shopping cart, utilizing
AI, machine learning,
edge computing, and
high-precision cameras
to identify each item
placed into or removed
from the cart.
Instead of utilizing
weight sensors that
require legal-for-trade
certification, as well as
constant recalibration,
WalkOut uses machine
learning and computer
vision technology. The
mountable cart device's
to offer personalized
recommendations,
store navigation,
supplementary product
information, and relevant
promotions based on
the shopper's history and
location in the store.
" Unlike our
competitors, we're
utilizing only highly
accurate machine-vision
technology with an over
99 percent accuracy rate
achieved after lengthy
rounds of development
and testing, " said Assaf
Gedalia, CEO and
CoFounder of WalkOut.
" Not only do our retrofit
WALKOUT, MEIJER, WALMART
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Supermarket Perimeter - October 2021

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