The Barcode Changed Everything. Everything Is About to Change Again.

Fifty years ago today, a revolution began with a pack of Juicy Fruit being swiped across an optical scanner. 

Retail changed forever when the first barcode was scanned at Marsh Supermarket in Ohio. Before the barcode, clerks had to put price stickers on every item, and then cashiers had to key those in at the register. Barcodes sped up lines, simplified steps when prices changed, and gave retailers new data about their sales and inventory. 

Today, another digital transformation is in progress, with AI poised to shape the next 50 years of retail. Like the barcode, AI will help streamline checkout, reduce operating costs and make the supply chain more efficient, but I also believe it will transform shopping from a chore to a fun and personalized experience.

You can start to see the future of in-store shopping with Instacart’s Caper Carts, which are rolling out across the country in stores like Kroger, Schnucks and Wakefern. Our AI-powered smart carts automatically recognize items using computer vision, allowing you to bag as you shop and check out from anywhere. But Caper is so much more than self-checkout on wheels.   

The digital screen brings the personalization and convenience of online shopping into the store. You can keep an eye on your running total, automatically check items off your list as you put them in your basket, and get relevant suggestions for new products and discounts. In addition to syncing your preferences from the Instacart App, Caper Carts have a location system that will soon understand where you are in the store, accurate down to several feet. So, for example, if we know you’re a gluten-free customer who loves Mexican food, we could recommend a gluten-free taco recipe and offer a 2-for-1 deal on beans when you walk down the canned food aisle.

I’m also excited to build more gamification experiences into the carts. We’re already seeing a lot of love for Caper’s coupon wheel, which lets you spin for a chance to win a coupon right before checkout — and celebrates with lights and sounds when you do. Customers are telling their friends about it, and grocers say it’s bringing new people into their stores. You could imagine other incentives and rewards to promote product loyalty or discovery, even multiplayer games that would make shopping more of an adventure. 

At Instacart, we aren’t trying to disrupt the grocery industry — we build technology that helps grocers adapt to the shifts taking place and compete with the massive tech companies and well-funded startups trying to put them out of business. A big part of that has been helping grocery retailers sell online, but now is also a crucial time for innovation in physical stores. 

Beyond smart carts, we’re building a connected ecosystem of technologies that leverage AI and other features to help stores evolve and improve the customer experience. Our Carrot Tags software can light up electronic shelf labels to help you find what you’re looking for or learn more about an item. Our FoodStorm order management system and kiosks make it easy to order from any department counter without needing to take a ticket and wait. In-Store mode gives you a mobile shopping companion inside Instacart or a retailer’s app. So you could build a shopping list at home and get important details such as stock levels, nutrition information and price. You could use our AI-powered Ask Instacart feature to plan healthy, affordable meals for the week or answer specific questions like, “What fish would be good in this recipe instead of salmon?” or “What type of wine should I get for this meal?” Then when you’re at the store, we’ll automatically sort your list by aisle to help you get in and out quickly.

Longer-term, AI-powered stores could drive key data insights for brands, retailers and other levels of the supply chain. By better understanding what’s on the shelf and managing inventory in real-time, companies could forecast demand more effectively, keeping shelves stocked while minimizing food waste, and leading to the development of new products to meet emerging consumer behavior and preferences. I wrote about some of the ways AI could make our entire food system better in a previous post.

The barcode was the first digital technology to have a direct impact on the shopping experience and supply chain management at the store level. I expect AI to be even more transformative. Beyond efficiency gains, it will enable whole new experiences that can change people’s relationship with food and shopping for the better.