Cashierless on Campus

Cashierless pushes on in new environments.

Cashierless stores graduate to college campuses   by Matthew Stern  in Retailwire

Automated grocery stores have been slowly but surely popping up worldwide since the launch of Amazon Go. Now a checkout-free concept is on its way to college campuses, along with some other new tech-enhanced food solutions for students.

School food service provider Sodexo announced that it will be launching autonomous grocery stores on college campuses nationwide beginning this spring. The grocery concept is called eat>NOW, and one of the first will open on the campus of the University of Denver on April 6.

Sodexo is also making available high-tech touchscreen meal vending machines offering 80 selections including ramen and udon. Finally, the vendor is launching three delivery-only virtual restaurant concepts available through its app for universities for dorm room delivery.

AiFi, the vendor Sodexo is partnering with to implement the autonomous grocery stores, makes a turnkey solution that allows retailers to launch completely checkout-free stores similar to Amazon Go, according to TechCrunch. The solution relies on artificial intelligence and computer vision.

Earlier this year Aldi partnered with AiFi in the UK to launch its first checkout-free location in London, according to Retail Technology Innovation Hub.

While Just Walk Out technology and other gradations of cashierless checkout are not quite mainstream, they could be gaining steam in grocery. Amazon.com recently opened its second Whole Foods store equipped with Just Walk Out technology, according to Produce Blue Book. ...