Bloomberg reports–Sensei, a 16-month-old technology firm based in Lisbon that’s endorsed by Germany’s Metro AG and Portugal’s Sonae SGPS SA, is throwing its technologies to European supermarkets since they race Amazon to open the region’s first checkout-free stores.
Sensei says three major European grocers, including a UK supermarket owner, Have exploited its technology for stores they intend to open this season, possibly getting ahead of Amazon. Even the US behemoth has allegedly scouted space for its Amazon Go stores in London, But hasn’t published any openings.
Amazon operates 10 Go shops in Seattle, Chicago, and San Francisco and plans to start as many as 3,000 more by 2021. Additionally, it possesses Whole Foods Market, which has seven stores in London. As customers shop more online as well as Amazon pushes into food, Sensei sees an opening.
The start-up utilizes overhead cameras and artificial intelligence (AI) software to detect what’s taken off shelves and calculates the bill. Also, it can determine whether products are put down anywhere in the shop so that customers will not pay. Customers check in using a payment card or QR code whenever they arrive, and also the store automatically chooses payment when they leave.
Sensei’s technology could be cheaper to deploy. It’s easier to retrofit existing shops with AI-driven, camera-only approaches than with multi-sensor systems, said George Lawrie, a principal analyst with research company Forrester.
Checkout-free systems still have barriers. Both Amazon and Sensei’s systems operate only with packed items. Nevertheless, grocers are coming under growing pressure from environmental groups and politicians to cut back on plastics. Sensei says grocers have a solution by using a small number of workers in the fresh-food aisles, scanning loose produce.
Sensei’s technology also requires retailers to offer examples of each item they sell. They then take pictures from multiple angles to train the computer-vision algorithms that underpin its applications.
Sensei declined to recognize the grocers it is working with but said they are likely to open one store each to start, which range up to more than 5,000 square feet. Portugal reported the company is talking about a dozen merchants in Europe.