Couche-Tard to deploy AI-powered cash registers at stores
Convenience store retailer Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. says it will deploy more than 10,000 touchless self-serve cash registers within three years at over 7,000 Couche-Tard and Circle K stores.
The system, called smart checkouts by the company, is powered by artificial intelligence designed by the firm Mashgin.
It has been tested since 2020 at nearly 500 Circle K stores in the United States and Sweden, as well as in Couche-Tard's retail innovation lab store located on the campus of McGill University in Montreal.
The system uses computer vision to recognize items presented from virtually any angle and registers them instantly in a single transaction without the need to scan barcodes.
Customers will deposit their items at the checkout system that uses cameras to record everything in less than a second and pay as usual.
Magnus Tagtstrom, vice-president at Couche-Tard, says the smart checkout system will reduce queues and free up teams to focus on helping customers.