Last fall, Instacart acquired smart checkout startup Caper AI as it looked to bulk up its technology solutions to offer retailers who want to enable contactless checkout. This week, the company has relaunched Caper’s system and announced one of its first locations for the system: Fenway Park.
Instacart is making its Fenway debut thanks to Aramark’s Sports and Entertainment, the same group that helped Bartesian’s automated bartender gain entry into the luxury suite in different ballparks this season.
Physically, the Caper Counter looks to be no different than the product Caper offered as a solo company. The only difference is Instacart now owns it. The system uses computer vision and sensors to identify items based on shape, color, size, and other features. The customer can load up to ten items into the Caper Counter at a time.
When Instacart acquired Caper last fall, I suggested that the acquisition looked to be part of an effort by the company to transform itself into a digital platform arms dealer as more grocery providers looked to make online grocery one of their core competencies and questioned whether Instacart’s online grocery service was disintermediating them from their customers.
…as Instacart grows its enterprise technology solutions, I expect we’ll increasingly see its flagship shopper service decoupled from its technology as it looks to serve larger retailers who want greater control over the customer relationship. Since the start of the pandemic, many grocery retailers have started to roll out and standardize around their delivery services, which means a fast-growing market for technology solutions. My guess is that Instacart is anticipating this as it rolls up some of the best-in-class independent solution providers as it prepares for an IPO soon.
This effort to transform itself is precisely what is happening. Over the past month, the company announced the Instacart Platform, a suite of technology offerings for grocers and retailers to help them with digital transformation. The company has also changed how it describes itself. At the time of the acquisition last fall, the company called itself ‘the leading online grocery platform in North America.‘ In today’s announcement, the company has swapped the term online grocery platform company for what it calls a retail enablement platform “that works with grocers and retailers to transform how people shop.”
For those who want to see the Caper Counter in action, the automated checkout system will be available at three different locations at Fenway Park starting today.
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