Evan Schuman's StorefrontBacktalk

As each item is selected, it’s scanned by the cart. This triggers several actions. First, the item is checked against the shopping list. Second, the item is queued for payment. And third, the item is virtually crossed off the shopping list.

In the Microsoft demo, the cart flagged that the pasta scanned had gluten in it and the cart thought the shopper had sought gluten-free. (The demo said the cart knew of the gluten conflict, because it was indicated on the shopping list. But such preferences—low sodium, no nuts, milk rather than dark chocolate, etc.—could also be part of the program preference the customer could have selected at initial setup.) It then told the shopper the exact aisle and shelf where the gluten-free pasta was housed, as it presumably has access to frequently updated planograms.

The cart then announces that the shopping list is complete. When the customer indicates that she is done shopping, the cart asks to charge everything to the customer’s account. Another verbal command tells the cart to stop following the customer.

If that last command is not obeyed, that could be a nicely humorous situation. How far would the cart go in following the customer?

Given that the cart can’t go out in the parking lot, there is a logistical issue. If a shopper has a very full cart of groceries and she wants to bring the cart to her car, will she have to transfer all of her groceries from the ultra-smart cart to a dumb cart that store management will permit to play outside?

Speaking of security, the demo didn’t address the typical in-aisle payment loss-prevention issues: How would a grocer verify that the items in the cart had all been paid for? Does the cart beam the data to a loss-prevention person stationed at the door with a tablet? Is spot-checking used?

Again, spot-checking is the type of tactic that stores such as Whole Foods—and Trader Joe’s and Nordstrom’s—would be very hesitant to adopt.

As for the relationship between Chaotic Moon and Whole Foods, Chaotic Marketing Director Jonathan Carroll’s comments pretty much agree with Whole Foods’.

“Chaotic Moon imagined and developed this entirely on our own, and sought a partner to assist with in-store testing and prototyping. Whole Foods was an ideal partner, one we already have a professional relationship with, and they agreed to work with us in prototyping this proof of concept and in testing it in-store at their flagship location here in Austin,” Carroll said in an E-mail. “We are not developing this for Whole Foods, we are developing it for ourselves in conjunction with Whole Foods.”