Shopping is about to hit the 21st century. IGA stores in NSW and Victoria have been trialling the infrared enabled trolleys for the past few months, but next month the Carindale IGA in Brisbane is getting the new trolley for real. And it will blow your mind.
It sounds like a fairly intuitive system:
Equipped with an LCD screen and control panel, the trolleys can be used to locate items in the store, scan products as they are purchased for a running tally, or use a list pre-loaded on a website.
It can also let you know about store specials, while infrared trackers installed in the supermarket’s ceiling can identify exactly which aisle you’re shopping in.
It seems like a really clever use of some fairly standard technology. Has anybody checked it out as part of the trial? What did you think?
[News]
Eccentric
Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 9:38 AMThis an excellent idea! Being able to punch in a pre setup list is brilliant too. What are the chances Woolies and Coles will take this up?
vin
Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 9:39 AMgreaaaaaat idea! but say ‘goodbye’ to the days of kids in trolleys!!!
Stephen
Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 11:20 AMAnd say good by to the days of crappy shopping carts left on the street… wow will prob have to pay a lot to use them….
Sean
Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 9:41 AMNow add a card swipe so I can pay for that running tally before I reach the checkout as well. Then it’s just bag and go.
Eccentric
Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 9:57 AMNever happen! They have an attendant to watch people using the auto checkout but they wouldn’t want to have to check every trolly leaving the shop!
th3Pil0t
Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 11:32 AMThey just need to add a RFID scanner into the trolley, RFID tag all the goods and there would be no need to scan / checkout all the stuff you buy. Just throw in trolley and swipe to pay.
Theophilus
Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 12:34 PM…and get too close to the shelves and you end up buying 100 cans of Backbeans.
Michael
Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 2:59 PMMm. backbeans sound tasty. Clearly IGA has gone the more expensive path. a trolly is expensive enough for a supermarket as it is, add electronics with will no doubt stop working many times in their lifetime, and well, I wonder where IGA will make the costs back from?
Sarah
Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 10:03 AMI hope that they have some kind of inbuilt alarm when it goes for a walk up the street and half a suburb away
Sicarius123
Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 4:55 PMI’ve seen plenty of trolleys in Sydney that have cups that retract over the wheels if they go outside a certain range of the shop/carpark. Makes pushing them any further pretty difficult.
Matt
Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 10:04 AMNo more $1 and $2 coins to use trolleys, they’ll be needing $20 notes now!
david
Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 10:16 AMLOL people are going to be ripping these trolleys off for sure!
I would say they will require registration first, then you enter your account no. (perhaps your mobile no.) then a 4 digit pin to remove one of these trolleys.
It would also help stop run away trolleys in the car park as people would be forced to return them.
Another possibility is that the trolleys can only be used in store, once you get to the checkout you put your items onto the conveyer belt, then at the other end you put them into a regular trolley.
Spanky
Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 12:32 PMI think you’ll find your not allowed to leave the store with them, just fill up and empty at the check out, get a different trolley, fill up and go to your car.
RooBoy
Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 10:23 AMWe had these systems in Canada in the late 90′s early 2000… the scanners were simple hand held bar code readers that you signed out after you registered as a customer. Once you finished your rounds you took your trolley and scanner to a special til and then you paid your cash. about 1-20 sales was double checked by a physical staffer and any discrepancies discovered were then paid for.
If you had too many irregularities (IE got caught trying to take items without paying more than a few times) your account was cancelled and you lost your privlidges to the system..
I’m sure the stores suffered some losses, but over all it was a great system and I sure hope these become more mainstream in Aus !
Stew
Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 10:27 AMWhat about power, battery life & charging?
Scott
Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 10:31 AMwhen I lived in Japan, the local supermarket had a pricetag system that worked in a slightly similar way – every item had a tiny LCD price tag with an IR sensor on it, the ceiling had a large emitter, so they were able to update prices accurately and quickly. No reason why it couldn’t be paired up with the smart trolleys as well. (except for bogans wanting to steal both)
jc
Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 11:34 AMwell, i think its really sad that another form of egalitarian transport is being taken away from the classy shoppers in Reservoir. How are they supposed to get their cases of Woodstock Bourbon n Coke home now?
chrisp
Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 1:21 PM+1, Morphett Vale
clinton1550
Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 11:48 AMPart of me thinks “Awesome! This will make my job easier.” but another part thinks “Will it make my job so easy that I won’t have one anymore?”
Rawprawn
Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 3:30 PMI used a similar product at Sainsburys about 10 years ago in the UK. However, the trolley was just two rows of bars (no cage) and you bought plastic tubs (like a souped up version of the reusable bags) with handles that clicked in. You simply scanned everything, went to the check out paid the total and put the tubs into the car. No bags, no wait…perfect
red t-rex
Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 3:57 PMJust enhancing their current iPhone apps would achieve this. They already scan barcodes, build up a shopping list and show you what isles items are in. All they need to add is scanning to tick it off the list.
AAron
Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 4:18 PMBlow my mind? Really? I don’t think so
John
Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 4:58 PMLet me know when they hover, then I’ll be interested.
Bruce
Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 7:21 PMI remember this feature in my local Sainsbury store when i was shopping with my mummie. This was 18yrs ago :|
Australia being typically laid back as usual.
chrisp
Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 8:42 PMHappy 60th birthday, fella!!
Adam
Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 8:57 PMHow’s the steering?
Franz
Friday, January 13, 2012 at 12:39 AMIn other words, you’re going to get spammed to death with pop up ads about specials, among other things such as the latest TV show no one is watching.
The time you will waste using this device will be better spent actually looking for the item, that’s if you know how to use your eyes.
Are people that USELESS that they need to use this?
Bruce
Friday, January 13, 2012 at 8:04 AMHow it worked in Scotland (some 17yrs ago lol) was just the scanner, u scanned items as you put them in the trolley then paid on way out. Occasionally random checks were made to validate, but after awhile once the shopper was known and deemed trustworthy these ‘checks’ became less frequent. It was faster way to shop for sure.
Alex
Friday, January 13, 2012 at 2:10 PMUsed a similar system in Sweden when I was there last. Shopping barely took any longer scanning stuff as you threw it in the trolley using a hand gun style scanner, but the time at the checkout was near zero. Just hand over the scanner and card, all done. Just brilliant.
When I got back here, I got to use the new self serve checkouts that Coles/Woolies are so proud of… but take forever to use. Overly complicated.
pigsy101
Friday, January 13, 2012 at 1:49 PMBloody great idea. Can’t wait to jailbreak a shopping trolley.
It will have to be an untethered jailbreak of course or else you won’t be moving anywhere! (boom, boom)
Alex
Friday, January 13, 2012 at 2:11 PMDoes that mean I can play Angry Birds while the Missus does the shopping?
Andrea
Saturday, January 14, 2012 at 8:28 PMHow will it do loose potatoes/fruit/veg etc?