Dallas arena opens stores with autonomous checkout
American Airlines Center is offering two new frictionless shopping options.
The arena, home to both the Dallas Mavericks NBA basketball team and Dallas Stars NHL hockey team, is collaborating with hospitality company Levy and its design subsidiary DBK Studio to open a new Market To-Go store on the arena’s terrace level. A second Market To-Go store is slated to open on the main concourse level of the arena later in April.
Utilizing an artificial intelligence (AI)-based autonomous retail platform from Standard AI and mobile payment technology from SpotOn, the Market To-Go locations will offer a product selection including beer, wine, and soft drinks.
Upon entry, customers will download a mobile checkout app. Once ready, they shop, tap to checkout via the app, and leave with their purchases, without having to wait in line. The stores use AI-powered cameras and mobile payment technology that registers what products customers select. The Standard AI platform is designed to work without ever using facial recognition, to help protect customers’ privacy.
Sports arenas remove the friction
Frictionless shopping is becoming an increasingly popular offering at professional sports venues across the country. The San Francisco Giants Major League Baseball team is deploying the Oracle Micros Simphony Cloud POS solution at its home stadium. The Giants intend to leverage the new POS technology to make it easier for customers to order food and beverage options at concession stands or from their mobile devices. In future seasons, Oracle Park will implement self-service customer kiosks and “grab-and-go” frictionless checkout locations.
For example, Aramark, the exclusive food and beverage provider at Houston’s NRG Stadium, recently opened the venue’s second store featuring Zippin checkout-free technology. Two Ice House Express locations in two different first-level sections of the stadium enable shoppers to tap a credit card to enter a store and then select the items they want.
Amazon, a pioneer of autonomous shopping with its Amazon Go store model in January 2018, offers its leading-edge contactless shopping and payment options at the recently opened Climate Pledge Area in Seattle. Frictionless shopping options at select food and beverage stores within the arena include Just Walk Out, as well as Amazon One palm-based payment.
And the Worcester Red Sox minor league baseball team recently partnered with retail computer vision platform provider Standard AI to retrofit the “WooSox” market store located near centerfield in its Polar Park stadium in Worcester, Mass. The store leverages artificial intelligence (AI)-powered cameras and the cloud to provide a fully autonomous shopping experience.
“We are proud to be home to one of the first autonomous retail experiences at a major events venue. The fan experience at American Airlines Center is world-class, and with Standard we’re making it even better,” said Dave Brown, COO & GM of American Airlines Center. “Whether at a Mavericks or Stars game, or attending a world-class concert, our community expects and deserves the very best, so we continually strive to provide a cutting-edge experience for all fans in attendance. We know they’re going to love the new autonomous checkout experience.”
“Delivering amazing hospitality today means meeting fans with what they value most, and more specifically, giving them control over the time it takes to order, pick-up, and get back to their seats,” said Andy Lansing, president and CEO of Levy. “We value our fans and their time, and pilots like this with world-class venues like American Airlines Center are so important as we look to a future where truly frictionless concourses put fans in complete control. We’re incredibly excited to bring this fully integrated experience forward through DBK Studio in partnership with the center.”
“Nowhere is your time more valuable than at a sporting event or concert. It’s where we cheer on our heroes and experience culture together. Autonomous checkout makes it so you can get back to your seat faster, and never have to choose between grabbing a snack and making a memory,” said Standard AI CEO and co-founder Jordan Fisher. “We’re thrilled to make this possible at the American Airlines Center.”