New York-based Caper has launched a plug-and-play AI-powered countertop purpose-built for mini markets and small retail stores.

The company is known for creating the Caper Cart, an AI-powered shopping trolley for grocery stores. It has now expanded its line of autonomous checkout technology with the Caper Counter.

The counter can be quickly installed without a store retrofit or downtime to operations. It provides a faster checkout shopping experience to reduce human interactions in the store to keep employees and shoppers safer during the pandemic. The product has been deployed in several outlets from a US convenience store chain, with additional stores coming soon.

“When we heard from retailers they wanted a cashierless checkout to fit their smaller-footprint stores, we developed the Caper Counter with powerful computer vision technology in a plug-and-play format that is quick to deploy without having to retrofit a store,” said Lindon Gao, CEO and co-founder of Caper. “Our first product – Caper Cart – was the first to define how technology can achieve a scalable cashierless solution for large-format stores. With the new Caper Counter, we have again transformed the mundane – a countertop – into something seamless and magical for smaller footprint retailers.”

Computer vision and sensor fusion technology detect and instantly identify items placed on the counter and automatically add the items to the total amount. Shoppers swipe their cards directly on the device or use Apple Pay or other NFC technology to checkout. The counter requires only a power cord and wifi password to get the device up and running in a store.

The AI-powered device is suitable for stores smaller than 930 square metres and fewer than 10,000 SKUs.

Before Covid-19, consumers made it clear convenience matters and the pandemic has further accelerated this trend. According to Deloitte’s InSightsIQ June report, more than half of consumers report spending more on convenience to get what they need, with “convenience” increasingly being defined by contactless shopping, on-demand fulfilment and inventory availability.

“Customers want retailers to make things easy for them with a faster and enhanced shopping experience and autonomous checkout is a priority,” said Kathleen Polsinello, managing director at Boston Consulting Group in Toronto. “In light of Covid and the impact on retailers, cashierless and contactless solutions that can be quickly deployed without significant costs or store renovations are likely to become the winners in the future of autonomous retail.”

The Caper counter and cart provide plug-and-play autonomous checkout technology that spans the full retail ecosystem of large and small retailers. With both products, Caper is developing software that brings the online shopping experience provided by ecommerce retailers to the physical store, bringing features that guide shoppers such as personalised recommendations, in-store navigation, coupons, digital dietary information and recipes. As the next steps, Caper plans to roll out both products and its platform with more retail stores across North America and Europe.

Caper has raised more than $14m in funding to date with backing from investors, including Lux Capital, First Round Capital, Y Combinator and Max Mullen, co-founder of Instacart.