Alimentation Couche-Tard has announced it will deploy smart checkouts to over 7000 Circle K and Couche-Tard stores across its global network.
The AI-powered self-checkout system, developed by Mashgin, is a compact countertop device that fits into the existing store layout and uses computer vision to recognise items presented from any angle then them up in a transaction.
The system is set to improve customer checkout times by as much as 400 per cent as there is no need to download an app or find and scan barcodes, shoppers simply put items down and pay as they normally would.
Magnus Tägtström, Vice President, Global Innovation at Couche-Tard, said they are committed to investing in and scaling technology that sets a new standard for convenience with its customers.
“The Smart Checkout system powered by Mashgin’s game-changing technology shortens lines, improves the customer experience and frees up our teams to focus on helping our customers. We look forward to introducing this new platform to stores across our network.”
The agreement with Mashgin to deploy over 10,000 of the systems to 7000 stores builds on the successful deployment of Mashgin systems across nearly 500 Circle K locations in the US and Sweden since 2020.
Alex Miller, Executive Vice President Operations, North America, and Global Commercial Optimization for Couche-Tard, said they’ve been hearing great feedback from customers in the stores where Smart Checkout is already deployed and it’s easy to see why.
“Mashgin’s platform is incredibly simple to use and highly intuitive for customers. Through this agreement, I am convinced that we will scale a great tool that makes it easy for our customers and team members, saving time and putting our customers and people first in our global operations.”
Mukul Dhankar, Chief Technology Officer and co-founder of Mashgin, said Mashgin’s core technology represents a major breakthrough in the world of artificial intelligence.
“By reinforcing computer vision models with three-dimensional data, we are able to reach 99.9 per cent accuracy when ringing items. This innovation also allows the system to easily differentiate between different sizes of items with a similar appearance, and also makes it flexible enough to recognize grab-and-go foods like pizza or roller grill items that may look slightly different each time.
“Another key component to our technology is its ability to learn new objects in less than a minute and sync that data across stores, making it possible to set up a new store in under an hour.”