EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

85% of people are bothered by long waiting periods at cash desks at supermarkets. Apart from that, it is highly inconvenient to take the groceries out of the shelves, put them into the shopping cart, take them out at the cash desks, and put them back into the bag again. With its integrated barcode scanner, the SmartCart immediately recognizes the products when putting it in. After collecting all the groceries, you simply leave the store and pay online.

Goal

It is our vision to be part of a digitalized world by providing the regional leading solution for self-checkout at shops and stores. Through our innovation, we not only facilitate the customer’s shopping experience, but we also save expenses for the supermarkets.

Methodology

Throughout the process, we made use of the Lean Start-Up method and went through several iteration where we updated our business model many times. Besides tons of secondary research on market, competitors, business model environment, etc. we conducted numerous customer interviews. At first, the team talked to 46 end users of our solution, whilst after some feedback, we shifted the focus more towards our direct customer. Therefore, we interviewed 9 employees and decision-makers of the target supermarkets in order to get valuable insights on their thoughts about our idea. Lastly, we also conducted 3 expert interviews to evaluate the attractiveness of a different technology for the scanning process.

Results

We not only validated the customer pains such as long waiting times at the store’s checkouts, but also tested hypotheses with regards to our solution. For example, within our 3^rd iteration, we constructed a simple prototype and asked potential end customers to rate the experience. Luckily, 12 out of 14 interviewees felt comfortable using the SmartCarts. This motivated us to further develop and test our prototype. When talking to the employees, we were also able to prove many assumptions about the value propositions we provide for our direct customer. For example, the staff will be able to do other higher value-added tasks instead of scanning the groceries one-by-one at the checkout. As an example, one interviewee mentioned that especially in rush hours they often run out of employees who restock the shelves which is very poor from a marketing point of view. Moreover, it was explained that the walkways from warehouse to cash desks represent a major problem as well, as time is wasted and a lot of customer confrontation occurs.

Cooperation Partner

• SmartCart

Contact Person

• Konstantin Titze - konstantin.titze@s.wu.ac.a

Student Team

• Ben Assa

• Konstantin Titze

• Martin Lindner

• Patrick Ehrenhofer

• Roland Sandor

• Tristan Hubich

Project Manager

• Thomas Pannermayr, M.Sc.

• Alexander Staub, M.Sc