Chevron debuts checkout-free shopping
Chevron is now offering a frictionless shopping experience at one of its ExtraMile gas/convenience stores.
A Chevron ExtraMile store in San Ramon, Calif. is offering customers the option to skip waiting in line and instead utilize an in-store contactless checkout experience. The retailer is partnering with checkout-free technology provider Grabandgo to retrofit the exising store for frictionless shopping.
Grabandgo self-checkout technology offers a fully contactless shopping experience. The solution is free for customers to use and allows shoppers to skip the line altogether. There are no special shelves, carts, baskets, or turnstiles required to enter or shop.
Instead, shoppers can select any non-age-restricted product in the store and then exit without waiting in line to check out. Payment is automatically completed through the Grabango app.
“We’re always looking to improve the experiences of our valued ExtraMile shoppers,” said Bob Stolz, GM of Chevron Stations. “That’s why we’re excited to work with Grabango to pilot their one-second-checkout technology at our Bollinger Canyon station.”
“We’re grateful to be working with one of the greatest consumer brands in the world to bring checkout-free to more shoppers,” said Will Glaser, CEO and founder of Grabango. “Grabango is honored to help Chevron usher in the future of physical retail shopping.”
The convenience of frictionless shopping
Other gas/convenience retailers are also finding that a checkout-free shopping experience suits the needs of their “on the go” shoppers. For example, in December 2021, fuel retailer BP began retrofitting select convenience stores across its network to provide checkout-free shopping with technology from Grabango . BP will ultimately retrofit 10 convenience store locations across its network with Grabango’s platform.
BP will retrofit store locations throughout the country with Grabango automated self-checkout technology, including seven ampm stores in northern California and three Amoco locations in western Pennsylvania.
BP has also rolled out the Mashgin artificial intelligence (AI)-based self-checkout system at four of its ampm fuel/convenience retail locations in California. The Mashgin solution provides touchless self-checkout powered by AI, and uses computer vision to scan items for purchase instantly.
Customers can walk in the participating ampm store, select the items they want, place them on the Mashgin kiosk tray, and have all of their products instantly recognized and simultaneously totaled in less than half a second. The solution eliminates the need to search for and scan barcodes.
Shoppers can use mobile pay, credit or debit card to complete their transaction with Mashgin, without touching anything but their purchase and form of payment, and be on their way in as little as 10 seconds.
BP has been implementing new types of automated checkout at select stores, as part of a corporate vision of a “convenience store of the future” that offers a variety of checkout options to give customers a choice in how they shop.
The Mashgin pilot at select California ampm locations is the most recent step toward this vision, as BP aims to nearly double earnings from its global convenience and mobility business by 2030, from around $5 billion in 2019. Following the pilot of the Mashgin automated self-checkout solution, BP will explore options to roll it out on a wider basis.