In the latest Groceryshop edition of the Omni Talk Spotlight Series, sponsored by 1010data, Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga interview Caper CEO Lindon Gao hot off his company's new smart cart pilot implementation with Kroger (see video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=burdDUj6f6w).

Much has been said over the great smart cart debate of 2021, with Chris at one time even calling it the dashboard GPS of the retail industry, but is he now warming up to the idea?

Maybe. Just maybe . . . at least in the right use cases.

Together with Lindon, Chris and Anne pressure test what they know and don't know about the concept, like:

- How the shopping cart is one of the few controlled environments within a grocery store

- How carts, small trolleys, or even countertop devices may be much more palatable for small mom and pop operations to digest than cameras in ceilings or sensors in shelves

- And, also how a myriad of operational use cases could still spring from the whole idea, like monitoring shelf inventory, regardless of whether consumers end up using smart carts to shop or not.

Chris still may not be ready to put the cart before the horse (i.e. full computer vision AI), but one thing will be abundantly clear after listening to this interview -- the smart cart is going to be a central figure in the checkout-free revolution debate for years to come.

After all, Kroger is kind of a big deal.

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