Perishables like fresh produce make up around 60% of all groceries sold but only 5% online according to Kantar Worldpanel. This is because having humans pick and deliver groceries is prohibitively expensive for retailers, and because consumers don't trust someone else picking produce for them. So Robomart is building a fleet of on-demand, self-driving stores they will license to retailers to power affordable on-demand delivery services.
Benefits to stores:
Consumers will simply tap a button to request the closest robomart. Once it arrives, they head outside, unlock the doors, and shop for the products they want. When they are done, they just close the doors and send it on its way. Robomart tracks what customers have taken using patent pending "grab and go" checkout free technology and will charge them and send a receipt accordingly.- Consumer data collected provides sales and consumption patterns
- On-demand delivery that is more than 5x cheaper on a per order basis
- Retailers can expand their store footprint at low cost with no initial capital expenditure
- Direct to consumer channel allows retailers to retain ownership & control of their customers.
85% of women between 26-44 said they do not shop for fruits and vegetables online because they felt home delivery is too expensive and that they wanted to pick their own produce according to a Robomart survey. Almost 65% said they would order a robomart more than once a week.
The company aims to deploy the Robomarts in commercial pilots soon, but only in San Francisco. Wireless charging stations are part of the offering.
