Enhancing SuperMarket Experience through AI: The SmartCart Way

Acknowledgement

We, as Group 5, would like to express our sincere gratitude to Prof. M P Sebastian, for guiding us
throughout the course; educating us on the various aspects, use cases and implications of AI from
a Business perspective; and finally enabling us and giving us the opportunity to work on this
project. Researching for the purpose of the project and formulating a business plan has been
quite an enriching experience, and we will carry these learnings with us as we join the corporate
world.

Thank You
Group 5
AIB – Sec B

*SmartCart is a hypothetical company, for the purpose of this project report 1|Page
 Enhancing SuperMarket Experience through AI: The SmartCart Way

Table of Contents

S. No. Content Page Number

1 Executive Summary 3

2 Motivation for setting up SmartCart 3

3 About SmartCart 4

4 Industry & Competitor Analysis 5

5 The Market & Marketing Plan 7

6 Operations 11
The Workforce: Management Team &
7 13
Personnel
8 Financial Plan & Analysis 16

9 Risks & Contingencies 18

10 References 20

*SmartCart is a hypothetical company, for the purpose of this project report 2|Page
Executive Summary:
This Final Report aims to elucidate on the Business Plan of the SmartCart company, an AI
technology enabled supermart and related solutions provider. An explanation as to the motivation
of establishing SmartCart, especially the given COVID scenario, is given, followed by the
buiness plan required to set up the company. Thus the report addresses the following topics:
 An introduction to the company and the motivation for establishing it
 An analysis of the industry, and the incumbent and up-coming competitors
 Market analysis along with the Marketing plan to ensure that SmartCart is able to capture
both B2C and B2B segments of the market
 The way Operations of the company would be conducted, on both the supply-side and
demand-side
 Workforce planning - qualifications and hiring of personnel for the various departments
such as management, sales & marketing, operations, finance, IT and technology.
 Financial planning - sources and uses of fund, Profit and Loss projections, revenue
projections, funding etc.
 Identification and analysis of the risks involved in establishing the company, and the
contingencies put in place to deal with the same.
Thus, this report gives a comprehensive business plan for SmartCart.

Motivation for Setting up SmartCart:

Over the past few years, the retail industry is continuously evolving with the advancement of
technology. Businesses are integrating technology such as AI, Computer Vision, Virtual Reality,
IoT, and other such tech to disrupt the existing retail space and rapidly gain advantage over
others. But the ongoing COVID-19 in a way no one ever imagined. With the uncertainty around
the effective medications to fight this pandemic, and the timeline of the vaccines release, Social
Distancing has become our best bet to keep the virus at bay.

As a result, the retail industry is one of the worst affected parts of our business and societal
ecosystem, as currently in-person retail shopping involves very high possibility of contact among
the shoppers and shop personnel. Though online grocery shopping is allowing people to order for
their daily needs as of now, people still want to be able to have the retail experience, and many a
times is even needed to make the right purchase. Thus, it has become imperative to think of an
innovative solution. “Necessity is the mother of invention”: there needs to be a sizable shift; the
industry must be reimagined in the future. The customer journey needs to be modified to
minimize contact to mitigate infection risk. Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be utilised to find a
solution to this problem. AI can be used to enhance the value chain of the entire industry from
warehousing to customer experience. Our business aims to provide a comprehensive solution to
prospective businesses with their entire value chain. It takes advantage of AI to design a
comprehensive solution to their warehousing, inventory, and store needs. The goal is to design a
viable business as a solutions provider across the value chain to retail outlets.
About SmartCart:
SmartCart is a USA based company, founded in 2020. It is an AI-enabled convenience store
(super marts) company that caters to the daily grocery shopping needs of the customers (tapping
the B2C market). At the same time our AI solutions, while deployed at our supermarts, can also
be deployed by third party supermarts, creating an opportunity for B2B market for our company.

The vision is to be a global, AI enabled customer-centric company where customers across

segments can afford daily needs in a hassle free manner with minimal manual intervention.
The mission is to provide customers best prices, best quality products in a timely and convenient
manner.

This vision is to be achieved by harnessing the powers of AI, ML, cloud computing, IoT,
Computer Vision, Deep Learning Algorithms, and Sensor Fusion – giving us the “Just Walk
Out Technology”. Following figures give an idea of what we have set out to achieve.

Robots stacking the pantry at the envisioned supermart

Product info such as origin, nutrition value & carbon footprint on display at digital panels
 Smart Cart Technology leveraging the Just Walk Out Technology (AI, Computer Vision,
IoT sensors etc.) to make the shopping experience hassle-free – No Checkout lines, No
Waiting

Industry & Competitor Analysis:

Current trend of the retail industry across the globe is oriented towards a customer centric
approach. This involves quick and quality services through business optimization along with
reduction in operational costs. All these factors collectively provided strategic opportunities for
the development of automation solutions based on AI in the retail market. From hypermarket
giant Walmart to single item stores, the global retail industry is on the verge of digital
transformation.

Retail automation industry is projected to grow up to US $19 billion by 2023 at a CAGR of

11% according to the report ‘Retail Automation Market’.
 Increase in purchasing power of consumers, economic growth in developing countries along with
intense competition in the retail industry have driven the industry through a transformation by
automation based on AI technologies. Warehouse automation and payment free check out
technologies offered manageable business platforms, faster sales processes and efficiency in the
supply chain.

The following table gives a brief picture of existing the drivers and possible challenges to the
growth of retail automation industry

Drivers Challenges

Improved customer satisfaction and repeated sales Risk of theft at unattended terminals

Reduced shopping time and hassle free payment process Risk of data security and privacy

Reduction in operational costs and minimization of wastage Low electrification and internet facilities
in rural areas

Efficient management of inventory in warehouses and supply Need skilled and trained personnel
chain activities

Geographically, the retail automation industry has been segmented into North America, South
America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa. Developing economies are growing at a
faster rate in adopting the retail automation technologies over the recent years. Asia Pacific has
shown an impressive growth in CAGR over the forecasted period. Though the US has largely
dominated this market, India, China, Brazil and a few Middle Eastern and African countries have
shown a promising growth. These emerging markets are expected to drive the industry globally
in near future. The following picture gives forecasted figures of size of the retail automation
market region wise.
Amazon, Walmart, ZIH Corp, Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions, AiFi, Sensei, Grabango,
Caper, Fujitsu etc. are the major players in offering retail automation services across the globe.
Some of them have their own dedicated retail outlet chains and also offer services to other
supermarket chains.

Though Amazon has a substantial head start in providing AI based technological services to
retail stores, it has no way out to escape the huge competition that is growing in the rapidly
evolving market. Most of the emerging startups to digital giants are competing to grab the major
share of this market segment. Startups like AiFi, Sensei are working to build smart and
sustainable technologies with an aim to transform and empower the retail stores, supermarkets to
be autonomous with cashier free checkouts, no long queues and providing a better shopping
experience to the customers. AiFi has automated a convenience store in Shanghai in Jan, 2020.
Grabango, a relatively new comer uses a lot of small cameras fitted in the ceiling to record the
customers’ purchases. It has already tested its checkout free payment technology at a GetGo
store.

Caper, one of the fastest growing retail automation technology companies, came with smart carts
and checkout counters. These smart carts need customers to scan the items before but the
upcoming version has computer vision records that are all put in a cart. Microsoft has also started
working with Walmart and Kroger, to bring in smart and tech forward stores. Sam’s club owned
by Walmart has opened up an experimental store that uses the Scan & Go app of Walmart for
payments. Retail automation technology market is being crowded in recent years with many
more new entrants like DeepMagic, Skip, Standard Cognition, Trigo Vision, V7, 7-11.

The Market & Marketing Plan:

Short Term:
Three Horizons for an effective sales and marketing responses to the Covid – 19 crisis –

Navigate Now
Recovery Plan To next normal
 Leading Analytics engines and digital ambition acceleration
the Capturing the early demand  Ecosyste
purpose
m
 Employee
rethinking
and customer
 Virtualization
orientation
 Building of the
cash
revenues

Rapid Revenue
 Long term:
Four actions to be taken immediately in the retail customer journey –

Focus on Agile
Meeting
concern & Reimagine the
customer capabilities
care new normal
where they are building

Reaching out
customer with Digital model Cost Cutting during Tapping the social
support not transformation to economic conditions media, showing quick
marketing products help customer customer surveys
manage crisis Full Automation of
Employee priority safely the entire selling Soliciting employees
and customers channel from for ear-to-the-ground-
safety measures Expanding home marketing to insights
delivery portfolios payment option
Transparency and More attention on
maintain companies 0% or contactless Using AI for easing “Failure mode” or
values & mission operations the customer missing customer
assurance experience in stores signals

Marketing Plan I: Selling technology to other supermarkets (B2B selling)

Product
Our product is an end-to-end solution for enabling convenience stores and supermarkets to
automate their working processes. We aim to empower the retail stores to work with minimal
human intervention having cashier free checkouts. It facilitates the value chain right from
warehousing to selling goods to the end-consumers through an enhanced customer experience.
The automation of warehousing would ensure better demand prediction, inventory
management and reduced risk of stock outs, thus avoiding any potential sales losses.
Automated Guided Vehicles, AI powered robots will accelerate the workings of warehouses
reducing turnaround time. The data collected through the seamless and integrated in-store
experience will help in providing personalized recommendations, thus ensuring a better
relationship with the customers. The automated AI system would be supported by the computer
vision, deep learning, RFID and intelligent cameras.
Price
Our customers are likely to be price inelastic as these are big supermarket chains who are more
interested in the economic value of their investment. Our offerings would benefit them through
cost reductions from optimization, automation, lower workforce requirement and higher revenue
through personalized recommendations. We would follow a value-based pricing model driven
by how much the consumer values our offerings. The price is calculated after considering the
prices charged by competitors, additional features in our offering, and the value provided to our
customers. The credit policy would be flexible with the option of making payments in
instalments.

Place
The company website will be the first point of contact for the customers looking to automate
their stores. The clients would be engaged online while the actual conversion might happen
offline after discussing and negotiating the terms and conditions. We would also like to
occasionally attend the trade shows and technology summits where our potential customers
might be present.

Promotion
Once a buyer has expressed interest in our offering through the website or reached out to us, the
next step is to engage in direct selling and marketing. This would entail meeting the customer
and explaining about our offerings, use cases, past clients and success, potential impact on their
businesses. Online marketing would be effective in this case with Google Search Engine
optimization and Ads. We also plan to leverage affiliate marketing to make our products reach
the target consumer. Our customers would be more receptive to ideas while visiting a tech
summit and trade shows. Email marketing is cheaper and effective and would help us in
quickly expanding our reach. The communication message would be around transforming the
store with minimal human intervention, deriving economic value from seamless customer
experience and operational efficiencies.

Marketing Plan II: Deploying AI technology in our own supermarket chain

Product
For our end-consumers, our product offering will be a service in terms of providing seamless
customer experience through automation of the retail store. We would provide personalized
 Enhancing SuperMarket Experience through AI: The SmartCart Way

recommendations on the basis of their preferences and purchasing history. This would possibly
lead to an increase in transaction size. Shopper satisfaction score would be increased due
to minimal human intervention, no long waiting lines and better prices with discounts on the
purchases. Additionally, shoppers would be able to compare prices across products, access
information on product availability through digital interactive screens, thus saving their time
looking for the right product.

Any fraudulent activity would be immediately captured and avoid any losses. We expect a high
increase in store footfall with installation of AI offerings in our supermarket.

Price
We won’t directly charge the consumer for these services. We expect the increased footfall,
increase in transaction size and frequency of the consumer visit to pay for the investment. We
wish to become the default choice for consumers looking to buy good quality products at
affordable rates without compromising on their time and energy.

Place
Our chain of supermarkets would be automated by AI Technology to make them more customer
friendly. The website would also enlist the new features or improvements made to the store to
generate interest and attract customers to try and visit the store.

*SmartCart is a hypothetical company, for the purpose of this project report 10 |

Page
Promotion
The promotion could be done through social media and e-commerce in terms of sponsored ads.
The communication idea would be highlighted around convenience and personalization. An
introductory sale on Black Friday/Christmas inviting consumers to come and experience the
new store. Based on the customer data, personalized recommendations are made which can be
communicated to the consumer through e-mail/text messages initiating the customer visit to
the store. Loyalty cards can be given to valuable consumers to increase their customer retention
and discounts to be provided to these members.

Operations:
Supply Side
On the supply side i.e. the warehouses and storage facilities of the retail chains, AI can be used
for efficient supply chain management. AI would convert the data collected into trends and
predictive models to assist retailers in predicting consumer demand, managing supplier
backorders and optimizing inventory levels.
Following tasks can be automated completely with the help of AI in inventory management,
 Real-time inventory information
 View sales, trends and forecast demands
 Identify and rectify any discrepancy in the supply chain immediately
 Prevent stock-outs
 Efficient automated stocktakes to save time on manual stocktakes
Apart from this, certain tasks can be automated with the help of AGVs (Automated Guided
Vehicles). Also, AI-powered robots can be used for sorting, packaging and retrieving items.
Demand Side

On the demand side i.e. the retail stores where the customers go for buying products off the
shelves, the objective is to make the shopping process seamless and automated. Computer vision,
sensor fusion, deep learning, intelligent cameras and RFID will form the backbone of the
automated AI system.
The ideal customer experience will be as follows:
 Customer swipes his credit card/ the retail brand store’s loyalty prepaid payment
card/scans the code at the turnstile on the entrance gate of the store.
 The store would consist of large video walls, digital interactive screens with information
resources and features such as product comparison, availability etc.
 WiFi marketing i.e. the customers who connect to the complementary store WiFi will get
access to limited-time offers and coupons.
 When a customer picks up a product, it is added to his virtual cart. Although taking items
off the shelf and putting it back later isn’t an issue.
 Facial recognition cameras would detect any unusual activities.
 The customer can leave the store once they are done and the products will be billed
directly to their credit card/ any other payment method they chose with the receipt being
sent to the email address which they would provide when they visit the store for the very
first time.

Apart from the immersive experience, by analysing the time spent by the customers at various
counters, their preferences and shopping history, the retailers will be able to provide personalised
recommendations. Also, predictive analytics would be helpful in leveraging the power of
customer data.

R&D activities
AI based automation can revolutionise the retail sector but it would certainly need to have the
latest innovative means and technologies to level up and this means increased spending on R&D.
R&D tax credit (which allows credit for upto 13% for spending on new products and processes)
is a motivating factor for the companies to undertake R&D spending. The following factors can
be kept in mind for future R&D activities:
 AI based automation in warehousing has a long way to go and there are a lot of activities
which can be automated which could revolutionize the economies of labour and capital
intensive activities
 R&D activities to complement human labour and increase their efficiency will be taken up
 The technology involved should be made cheaper so that the scope of implementation
can be widened from supermarkets to small shops

The Workforce: Management Team & Personnel:

Management Team
Board of Directors
Board of directors will have CEO as the board member who will be responsible for leading the
mission of the company. He will also assist in providing services and software needed by brand
manufacturers and retailers for selling through online platform. Board also includes Vice
President Product Management and Vice President Sales and Marketing. It will also have one
independent member which will not be a shareholder as well as employee of the company.

Key employees
 Chief Financial Officer
Roles and responsibilities: Maintaining financial reports as per accounting principles
and administrative activities. Developing procedures for analyzing and monitoring
project budgets for accurately projecting the expenditures. Coordination with
stakeholders for getting approval of business requirements. Providing support for project
management by leading activities of budgetary and finance controls.
Skills required: Good communication skills, interpersonal skills and should have strong
computer and analytical skills with spreadsheets, accounting software and financial
analysis.
Previous track record: Should have minimum 4 years of work experience in the finance
management. Behavior and conduct in the previous organization will be extremely
important which will be a factor while giving incentives, compensation and bonuses.
  Vice President, Sales and Marketing
Roles and responsibilities: Introducing new products of the company and also
promoting the existing brands to the market. Developing marketing plans, identifying
trends of market and understanding requirements of customers. Overseeing the daily per
day sales, forecasting and monitoring for understanding the market in a better way.
Skills required: Sale Planning, maintaining client relationships, positioning, analysis of
competitor, development of product, concepts related to marketing and people
management.
Previous track record: Minimum 3-5 years of experience in sales and marketing.
Performance in the previous organization should be outstanding and must have adhered to
procedures and policies of the company.

 Vice President, Product Management

Roles and responsibilities: Management of activities related to production of services
and goods. Planning, design, control, operations process and forming strategy related to
them will be under direct responsibilities. Interacting with managers from other domains
which are connected to operations will come under indirect responsibilities.
Skills required: Knowledge of operations management field, excellent communication
skills, leadership ability, organizational effectiveness knowledge and good decision-
making skills. Implementing and developing operational policies and procedures.
Previous track record: Minimum 3-4 years of experience in project and operations
management. Should have done performed excellent in streamlining and managing
operations in the previous organization.

 Human Resources Manager

Roles and responsibilities: Hiring, terminating, promoting, and transferring the
employees as per procedures and policies. Making applicants aware of their benefits,
duties, responsibilities and promotions. Addressing employee issues like harassment
allegations and complaints regarding work and resolving them.
Skills required: Effective communication skills, cross cultural fluency, performance
management, supporting diversity, human resources management and classifying
employees.
Previous track record: Minimum 3-4 years of experience in employee and labor
relations. Should have managed the roles in previous organizations efficiently.

Advisory Committee: It will include Vice President Product Management, Human Resource
Manager. It will advise on the retention, expansion and customer acquisition strategy. It will give
its suggestions on expansion of client relationships, new businesses and roadmap for entry into
the unexplored markets to company.
Reporting and Line of authority: CEO of the company will instruct all the board members. All
the divisional heads will report to the CEO and the employees working in particular domain will
report to their vice presidents or officers above them. The Human Resource Manager will
directly report to the CEO of the company. The reporting hierarchy will help in decreasing
internal conflicts within the organization.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): The Company is committed for its CSR practices by
adopting sustainable practices in its supply chain. It is focused on bringing positive difference in
areas of its brands, society and employees. Making packaging recyclable and reusable thereby
reducing the footprint in the supply chain. By introducing the tagging system in packaging, it will
help in effective sorting which is crucial for recycling the material used in supply chain.

Personnel Plan:
Personnel Plan Year 1 Year 2 Year 3

Production Personnel
VP Product
Management 200000 220000 242000
Store Employees 100000 110000 121000
Others 20000 22000 24200
Subtotal 320000 352000 387200

Sales and Marketing

Personnel
VP Sales and Marketing 170000 187000 205700
Others 50000 55000 60500
Subtotal 220000 242000 266200

General and
Administrative
Personnel
CEO 350000 385000 423500
Admin Staff 200000 220000 242000
Others 10000 11000 12100
Subtotal 560000 616000 677600

Total People 14 15 17
Total Payroll 1100000 1210000 1331000
Financial Plan & Analysis:
Accounting Plan:
Our firm provides solutions to businesses and shopping experiences to customers. Since, the
leading industry players like Amazon follow accrual method of accounting, it is best that accrual
method of accounting is followed at this firm as well. Hence, revenues are recorded when
services are provided and not when the cash transaction occurs.

P&L projections:
A value-based pricing is followed for our B2B solutions since our customers are assumed to be
price inelastic for a unique solution. Since, it is a value-based pricing, the yearly outlook should
be positive from early on with expected profits early into the business. Since, the solutions are
provided on demand, the fixed costs on the B2B side are expected to be minimal. Hence, the
expected returns on investment should be realised soon.
However, in our own supermarket chain, the initial investment and fixed costs are higher and
might take longer to yield return. The balance between these two streams of business is key in
determining the expected profit or loss. An estimate of the profit and loss projection year by year
with the assumption that both parts of the business are equal is given below. The projections can
easily be adjusted for change in revenue proportion.

Year Profit/Loss Year Profit/Loss Year Profit/Loss

(B2B) (B2C) (Combined)

1 - 10% 1 -20% 1 -15%

2 0% 2 -10% 2 -5%

3 5% 3 0% 3 2.5%

4 10% 4 5% 4 7.5%

5 15% 5 10% 5 12.5%

6 20% 6 15% 6 17.5%

7 20% 7 15% 7 17.5%

Cash flow projections:
Cash flows projections or expectations change drastically with accrual method. The account
receivable collection days can be controlled but not accurately predicted. Different clients would
prefer different payment schedules and as an industry entrant, it will be difficult for us to dictate
terms. Hence, predicting cash flows accurately is not possible and it is reasonable to assume cash
flows would track the trend of P&L. There would be high cash inflow for initial investment in the
first few years with positive cash flows following later.
For the B2B side of business, the cash flows are expected to turn positive in the second year and
stabilise as soon as the profits stabilise with future investments plugged in whenever necessary.
In the B2C, supermarket business, it is difficult to discern the cash flow impact of the AI solution
in isolation. Hence, as it is the case with every inventory heavy business, the cash flows are
bound to be negative since huge investments are required in the first few years with positive
returns in the future as the investment becomes lower and the profit margin stabilises.

Depreciation / Amortisation:
The infrastructure for the AI solutions for both businesses and supermarkets are amortised
linearly. The depreciation for the inventory and the warehouses depends on the type of property
or equipment and the industry standard followed for the same. The choice of the method is
between linear and declining balance. The salvage value of the property will be discerned on a
case by case basis.

Break-even analysis:
As mentioned earlier, it is difficult to predict cash flows with differing payment schedules and
unexpected future investments. Hence, as mentioned in the cash flow projections, the break-even
analysis can be split into the two businesses.
In the B2B solution provider business, the break-even point is expected to arrive early since the
pricing is value based and the investment should be recovered soon. The expected break-even
period is between two to three years.
In the supermarket business, measly returns and late break-even points are commonplace.
However, with the edge our model provides in the current scenario, the returns are expected to be
higher than the industry average and hence, we are expecting to achieve break-even sooner.
Since, the initial investment is high, we expect to break-even in 5 years.

Sources & Uses of funds:

The chief source of funds for our business is series funding through venture capitalists and
private equity firms in return for proportional control. As we progress in our business, we aim to
become self-sustaining for our fund requirements. We can raise money through an IPO or a bond
offering if we need funds for a future project. The funds are chiefly going to be invested in
infrastructure required for both businesses. Also, another sizable area of investment would be for
qualified personnel.

Start-up costs:
The two major areas where costs would be incurred are infrastructure and recruiting. The initial
infrastructure requirements for the supermarket business are immense. The need for qualified,
exceptional personnel in key positions are well documented in the current era. Hence, these
positions would demand a premium which can either be paid in cash or ownership.
Risks & Contingencies:
The major risk involved is the loss of privacy for the customer. This generates the threat of being
hacked and outflow of crucial customer data. Data such as customer security codes, all in-store
conversations, and purchase history and customer details are at risk. As the current requirement
is due to the pandemic, the risk of this becoming obsolete prevails. The use of AI generates loss
of jobs in the Retail sector which causes concern for unemployment in the country.

Market Risk

1. Market is not mature enough to accept AI in their general day to day life
2. The need of the product is present but consumers need time to get adjusted
3. Original shopping experience of customers is compromised.
4. Retail owners are highly negated by the challenges of incorporating AI.

Competitive Risk

1. As the market is evolving, competition is growing

2. With technological advancement the basis of competition might change
3. Adaptation of AI by retail stores with the help of automation technology companies

Technology Risk

1. The use of the product might become obsolete once the pandemic fades.
2. Possibility of aligning the other operations of retail stores and new technologies with the
current
3. Advancement in technological areas lead to dramatic changes in the usage of technology
4. Retail owners are highly negated by the challenges of incorporating AI.

Execution Risk

1. On-boarding of employees to understand working with AI technology

2. Customer reluctance to the use of AI projects loss of consumers for the retail store.
3. Training, sustaining and enabling resources that are capable of skills required for AI
systems

Capitalization Risk

1. Sense of unfulfilled potential of AI in the country and the ability to adopt and integrate
AI technologies
2. Cost of failure is much higher in India as failure in the attempt at bold innovations imply
a loss of face as the society is not forgiving
3. Investors cannot invest in AI or technology but in companies or projects in a sector
4. Government endorsed companies are major competitors for our business plan as they
attract the maximum investors due to their greater chance of implementation and success.
SWOT Analysis
References:
 Artficial Intelligence(AI) in Retail 2020 - 7 Real World Use Cases
- Ravishankar
https://vue.ai/blog/intelligent-retail-automation/benefits-of-ai-in-retail-for-2020/
 Amazon launches business selling automated checkout to retailers
- Dastin
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-amazon-com-store-technology-idUSKBN20W0OD
 The rise of the checkout-free store.
https://www.walnutunlimited.com/the-rise-of-the-checkout-free-store/
 Spurred by Amazon, Supermarkets Try Swapping Cashiers for Cameras
- Wall Street Journal
https://www.wsj.com/articles/spurred-by-amazon-supermarkets-try-swapping-cashiers-
for-cameras-11562491800
 Automation in retail: An executive overview for getting ready
- McKinsey
https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/retail/our-insights/automation-in-retail-an-
executive-overview-for-getting-ready
 Retail Automation Market
- Market Research Firm
https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/retail-automation-market-
1247.html
 Retail Automation Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends
and Forecast 2018 – 2026
- Transparency Market Research
https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/retail-automation-market.html
 Checkout-Free or Cashierless Technologies Inch Closer to Grocery Implementation
- Progressive Grocer
https://progressivegrocer.com/checkout-free-or-cashierless-technologies-inch-closer-
grocery-implementation
 Here is a List of Cashierless Tech Companies Gunning for Amazon Go
- The Spoon
https://thespoon.tech/here-is-a-list-of-cashierless-tech-companies-gunning-for-amazon-
go/
 AiFi – Products
https://www.aifi.io/
 Amazon Go Faces Unlikely Challenge From Checkout-Free Startup
- Bloomberg.com
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-05/amazon-go-faces-unlikely-
challenge-from-checkout-free-startup