Singapore’s first AI unmanned convenience store, Pick & GO expands their brand of the cashierless, checkout free convenience store experience with the opening of their second outlet in Lakepoint Condo on 27th November, bringing the future to residents in Jurong.
Pick & GO was founded in June 2019 by Alex Ng with a vision to re-define convenience shopping to be as frictionless as their namesake where customers can pick what they want from the shelves, leave the stores and automatically pay through their app without any additional touchpoints 24/7. Pick & GO’s flagship store was set up in SUTD on 1st October 2019, and has moved over 128,500 products to date.
A 2018 report has revealed that Singaporeans are ready to go digital with 63% of shoppers pegging in-store digital experiences with increased loyalty to merchants. Queues however, remained a significant pain point in the offline experience. The report further stated that 89% of Singaporeans left a store due to long queues, 34% did not attempt to purchase the item while 27% went ahead with the purchase from a different retailer, resulting in US$1.63 billion in total losses for merchants.
Alex believes Pick & GO’s approach in combining AI technologies such as smart sensors, smart imaging, and deep learning will be the future for offline shopping. Though the startup cost is initially higher, adopters of this approach will save in the long run. “Queuing and waiting is a pain felt in our everyday lives especially when we are rushing for time. The convenience of 24/7 checkout free process is definitely a huge leap forward focusing on customer’s shopping experience – the future of retail. COVID-19 has fast tracked the inevitable change in consumer’s behaviour where pre-COVID is all about convenience and experience, and post-COVID with contactless as an additional key element.”
The global unmanned convenience store market was valued US$ 67.48 million in 2019 and is expected to reach US$ 1,65 billion by 2027, with APAC at the lead with 61.6% market share. To stand apart from the competition, each Pick & GO store is hyper-localised, focusing on serving the immediate community within a 1km radius. Through data analytics, Pick & GO understands what products are popular, and how to complement their offerings through the right pairings from the buying habits of the community, helping suppliers and partners to manage their footprint and improve their sales. This process has been instrumental leading to the launch of the second outlet in Lakepoint Condo which serves approximately 1216 of their residents, while being publicly accessible to 175 adjacent landed properties, 2348 units of neighbouring condominiums and the general public.
“The increase in users signups and feedback from customers have been very encouraging which gave us the confidence to expand more Pick & GO outlets including hybrid concept stores in the heartlands as well as commercial areas.” Says Alex.
Solving the pain points of the offline shopping experience is the first step in Pick & GO’s mission in making the offline and online shopping experience seamless. With the launch of their updated app, and the integration of their ecommerce platform slated for Q1 2021, Pick & GO is primed to be at the forefront of shopping convenience and to turn novelty to normalcy.
Interested parties who want to contact Pick & GO can drop a message here.
