Price Chopper and McKeever’s Market & Eatery are rolling out Instacart’s AI-powered smart carts at select stores in Missouri.

The Caper Carts let shoppers scan items as they shop, manage their grocery budget in real time and skip the checkout queue.

Caper Carts are available starting at Price Chopper in Parkville and McKeever’s Market & Eatery in Lee’s Summit, with a broader deployment planned in the coming months. Caper Carts are used by people of all ages, from kids to senior citizens, and are especially popular among couples and families.

Customers will be able to access more personalised shopping experiences using an interactive screen, track spending for budget-friendly shopping, and directly access coupons and deals through a loyalty programme. Other features include personalised recommendations while shopping and gamification elements that reward customers once a spending threshold is achieved.

“We’re a home-grown grocery business committed to improving the shopping experience for customers across Kansas City,” said Tim Cosens, chief technology officer at McKeever’s. “Our adoption of Instacart’s AI-powered Caper Carts is a significant step towards modernising how we serve our customers. This technology not only makes shopping more efficient but also helps customers effortlessly discover new products and stay on budget, all during a single visit.”

David McIntosh, vice president at Instacart, added: “Customers are increasingly choosing stores equipped with our Caper Carts, where they typically spend about 30 minutes shopping with the cart per visit. And now, we’re expecting similar enthusiasm at both McKeever’s Market & Eatery and Price Chopper. Caper Carts can enhance the shopping experience through personalised interactions, such as loyalty discounts. They integrate smoothly into existing store operations and unlock incremental revenue streams for stores. We’re excited about our growing partnership with these stores and the potential it holds.”

Price Chopper has partnered with Instacart since 2017 to power same-day delivery and pickup via the Instacart app. Price Chopper also recently introduced Instacart Storefront to power its e-commerce web site (www.shopmypricechopper.com).

Caper Carts are part of Connected Stores (instacart.com/company/connected-stores), Instacart’s suite of in-store technologies that help grocers bridge the online and in-store shopping experience.

Instacart (www.instacart.com) partners with more than 1500 national, regional and local retail banners to facilitate online shopping, delivery and pickup services from more than 85,000 stores across North America on the Instacart Marketplace.

Price Chopper (www.mypricechopper.com) has 52 Kansas City stores locally owned by the Ball, Cosentino, McKeever and Queen families, all of whom live in Kansas City and oversee store operations on a daily basis.