Wal-Mart has submitted a patent for robotic shopping carts that don’t require you to push them as you shop.
Actually, the devices — which apparently resemble “Roomba” style robotic floor sweepers — will fit on the bottom of the retail giant’s existing shopping carts and will automatically guide the carts to follow you around as you walk up and down the store’s aisles.
According to Wal-Mart’s patent application, the devices will respond to voice commands. Customers can tell their carts to wait for them in another aisle, or follow them from a safe distance.
“Hi, My Name Is Shopping Cart!“
The carts also will be more convenient for customers. Rather than trying to yank a stubborn shopping cart from a stack, the carts will gently glide up to you when you walk into the store. They also will push themselves back to the cart corral to await the next customer once you are done using them.
Plus, if you don’t want a cart when you first arrive but later discover that you can’t carry all the products you want to buy, customers will be able to push a button from within the store — or tap an app on their smartphones — and the robotic cart will find them.
Potential Labor Efficiencies
For Wal-Mart, that means less cluttered aisles. And fewer hourly employees who will no longer have to chase after carts in the stores’ parking lots.
“Our routine tasks also are difficult to keep up with, particularly during peak hours,” Wal-Mart stated in its patent application for the devices. “For example, shopping carts are left abandoned, aisles become messy, inventory is not displayed in the proper location or is not even placed on the sales floor, shelf prices may not be properly set, and theft is hard to discourage.”
Back to the Future
The futuristic shopping carts also will offer the brick and mortar retail leader a new way to compete with the growing popularity of Amazon and other online retailers. First, there will be the novelty value: Many customers are likely to flock to Wal-Mart just to see the devices and marvel at how they work.
Later, it is highly likely that Wal-Mart will develop new technologies that can be integrated with the devices, such as tablets attached to its shopping carts that can recommend products or help customers navigate their way through stores to the exact products they want. They may also might help spot shoplifters or play videos to entertain children while parents shop.