NTUC FairPrice Co-Operative, the largest supermarket chain in Singapore, plans a pilot programme using Cust2Mate smart shopping trolleys from Israeli firm A2Z Smart Technologies.

The first Cust2Mate Smart Carts will arrive at a luxury FairPrice located in a shopping mall in the centre of Singapore in July. The carts will be available on a limited basis beginning August, and will be available for all shoppers beginning September.

Fully integrated with the FairPrice PoS ecosystem, A2Z’s Cust2Mate Smart Cart streamlines the shopping experience by recognising every purchased item and enabling in-cart payment so shoppers skip queues, while also allowing retail grocers to direct shoppers to discounted products and in-store promotions to manage and move inventory efficiently.

“We are excited to announce our first pilot programme in Asia with FairPrice, the largest supermarket chain in Singapore,” said Rafael Yam, chief executive officer of Cust2Mate. “With a rich heritage of technology innovation, FairPrice has over 230 locations throughout the country with a variety of different stores including FairPrice supermarkets, FairPrice Finest, FairPrice Xtra, FairPrice Xpress and Cheers convenience stores.”

He said the agreement provided Cust2Mate with an “excellent opportunity” to expand its presence and gain exposure in the frictionless retail market in Asia.

“We are excited to be partnering with FairPrice, and we look forward to both the successful completion of this pilot and to building a strong business partnership with FairPrice,” he said.

With its user-friendly smart algorithm, touch screen and computer-vision system, Cust2Mate streamlines the retail shopping experience by scanning purchased products and enabling in-cart payment so shoppers can simply pick and go, and bypass cashier checkout queues. This results in a more efficient shopping experience, less unused shelf-space and staffing requirements, and command and control capabilities for store managers.