Trigo Vision announced today that its cashierless checkout technology, which delivers Amazon Go-like experiences at retail, will be installed in every location of Shufersal, Israel’s largest supermarket chain.
Technically, the two companies have signed an agreement to adopt Trigo Vision‘s technology, but the two still need to go through a pilot in one store first over the next year, and then roll out to the rest of the chain’s 272 locations.
Trigo Vision says that one of benefits of its technology over Amazon Go is that Trigo Vision can be retrofitted into any retail store of any size. Amazon Go stores are built from the ground up to house Amazon’s high-tech cameras and sensors and are typically smaller, hovering around the 2,000 square foot mark. Trigo Vision’s system uses basic off-the-shelf connected cameras, computer vision and machine learning to be able to identify products people put in their cart in a way, the company says, that can accommodate any lighting condition or store set up.
Being able to accurately identify more than 2,500 SKUs in a store has been a challenge, Trigo Vision CEO, Michael Gabay and COO, Jenya Beilin told me in a phone interview. Part of the issue with using computer vision for product identification is that the algorithms must be able to understand subtle shifts in branding, like for a special promotion or a seasonal flavor. But Trigo Vision claims that its technology has automated this process, and now it will go into broader real world use courtesy of the Shufersal partnership.
The competition to bring cashierless checkout tech to the grocery masses is fierce. Amazon is rolling out its Go stores at a fast pace across the country. Sam’s Club just debuted its first cashierless retail store. And Microsoft has long-been rumored to be working on cashierless tech with Walmart: the two giants recently expanded on an existing cloud partnership, which includes working on the internet of things and IT modernization. It makes sense that including a cahsierless retail component could be a part of that relationship, especially when so much data around how people shop and what they purchase can be mined from such a store.
Based in Tel Aviv, Trigo Vision raised a $7 million seed round earlier this year. The company says it’s expanding quickly and will have 20 – 25 people on their team by the end of the year. In addition to Shufersal, Trigo Vision has one other pilot happening right now with an undisclosed European grocer.