San Francisco-based company Standard AI has announced the acquisition of self-checkout solution provider Skip. The deal will combine Standard AI’s autonomous retail platform with Skip’s self-checkout technology, which they say will allow retailers to resolve labor challenges with a path toward autonomous checkout. Standard AI will integrate Skip’s cloud-based point-of-sale system with its back office technology post-acquisition, which Standard AI says will streamline operations and provide greater control over pricing and promotions.
Standard AI, which has been deployed with retailers such as Circle K, uses machine vision and AI to enable autonomous storefronts. The company says its technology is deployed and customized in stores without the retailer having to change their existing formats and footprints.
The deal allows Standard AI to offer more options, allowing retailers to reach a wider swath of customers. An autonomous just-walk-out experience can be almost jarring if you’ve never done it before. With a self-checkout option, retailers can give those customers who are not quite ready to just pick up and walk out with their items an option with which they are more comfortable.
Standard AI says it plans to bring to market the world’s first platform that connects self-checkout with autonomous retail later this year, allowing retailers to have the option to use the platform with or without the self-checkout kiosks.
The deal signals what could be a period of consolidation of the retail checkout automation market. Nearly seven years after the launch of Amazon Go, the space has been filled with several startups that offer platforms leveraging machine vision, sensors, and other technologies that enable retailers to move away from more traditional checkout formats. With the tightening of venture and other forms of capital, my guess is we’ll see more combinations like this over the next 12-18 months.
You can watch the video explaining how Standard AI technology is integrated into stores below:
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