Wegmans Is Testing Smart Carts to Make Shopping Easier

More than a century after it was founded in 1916, regional supermarket chain Wegmans is testing a high-tech feature in four of its Upstate New York locations, aiming to create a seamless checkout experience with the use of smart shopping carts. 

In a press release published on July 1, the grocery chain revealed it is currently testing Instacart’s smart shopping carts, called Caper Carts, at its Dewitt store in Syracuse, New York. “This marks the first deployment of Caper Carts at Wegmans,” Instacart confirms in the announcement. 

Caper Cart — which is part of Connected Stores, Instacart’s bundle of new and existing technology for helping grocery stores improve consumer experiences — is a smart shopping cart operated by AI, allowing customers to pay for items directly from their cart and eliminating the need to wait in checkout lines. 

A Wegmans representative tells Food & Wine in an email statement, “We are doing smart cart test-and-learn pilots in four stores — Perinton and Pittsford in Rochester, Alberta Drive in Buffalo, and at our Dewitt store in Syracuse — with two different technology providers.” Instacart has confirmed that its Caper Carts are only being tested at the Syracuse location.

While the introduction of Caper Carts is new, Forbes previously reported that the grocery chain has tried out another smart cart option, testing “Shopic’s smart carts in two stores in Amherst and Rochester, New York,” back in 2023. 

“Smart shopping carts [are] an early-stage technology that we believe could be offered to our customers as an alternative way to shop in our stores in the future,” Wegmans details. “We are limiting the program to these stores as we gather customer feedback to drive improvements.”

Wegmans customers can log into their Shoppers Club accounts on the cart's touchscreen to begin using the Caper Cart, the press release notes. These high-tech carts have a variety of features intended to maximize convenience for shoppers, like automatic item recognition, weight sensing, real-time tracking of spending, access to loyalty program accounts, and the ability to pay directly from the cart. 

Instacart's chief connected stores officer, David McIntosh, emphasizes in the brand’s announcement that “Caper Carts are transforming everyday grocery shopping into a faster, more personalized experience.”

The new technology from the grocery delivery company combines “an array of Caper Cart cameras, digital scale, and location sensors connected to NVIDIA Jetson hardware,” so shoppers can scan their items automatically as they place them in their carts and even start bagging groceries while they shop. 

If you’re wondering whether this innovation is coming to more locations, a Wegmans representative states in the brand’s email that “our goal is to determine if smart cart technology is a fit for the unique shopping assortment offered in our stores and if it meets the shopping needs of our customers.”

As shoppers begin filling their AI-powered carts at the store, there'll be no need to anxiously await a total cost at checkout, because the cart will track your spending as you shop. This simple tool could prove invaluable for people who are grocery shopping on a budget. 

As an added bonus, saving time wherever you can is always helpful for busy families. Here’s hoping we can try a smart cart out ourselves at more Wegmans locations soon and skip the long wait in a checkout line.