Couche-Tard to roll out ‘smart checkout’ at over 7,000 stores
Retailing giant agrees with Mashgin to bring more than 10,000 computer vision-based, next-generation self-checkout machines to its stores.
Alimentation Couche-Tard will deploy more than 10,000 Mashgin Touchless Checkout Systems to over 7,000 of its Circle K and Couche-Tard stores during the next three years. The AI-powered self-checkout system improves customer checkout times and allows staff to focus on other activities.
The agreement with Mashgin launches the global deployment of the innovative system, and represents one of the largest scale expansions of computer vision-powered checkout technology to date. It builds upon the successful deployment of Mashgin across nearly 500 Circle K locations in the U.S. and Sweden since 2020, as well as at Couche-Tard's retail innovation lab store on the campus of McGill University in Montreal.
"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,” said Magnus Tägtström, Vice President, Global Innovation at Couche-Tard.
Referred to as "Smart Checkout" by the global retailing giant, the system uses computer vision to recognize items presented from virtually any angle and instantly ring them up in a single transaction. There is no need to download an app or find and scan barcodes.
“By reinforcing computer vision models with three-dimensional data, we are able to reach 99.9% 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,” said Mukul Dhankar, Mashgin Chief Technology Officer and co-founder.
Mashgin has processed over 36 million transactions to date and can be found in over 800 locations, including, Circle K and other convenience store chains, airports, Fortune 500 companies, and over 30 iconic U.S. sports stadiums and entertainment venues.
"We've been hearing great feedback from our customers in the stores where Smart Checkout has been introduced, and it's easy to see why. Mashgin's platform is incredibly simple to use and highly intuitive for customers," said Alex Miller, Executive Vice President Operations, North America.
Couche-Tard is a global leader in convenience and fuel retail, operating in 26 countries and territories, with more than 14,100 stores.
