Download the Nourish + Bloom app, scan your way into the store, load your groceries and walk out.
No checkout lines, no cashiers, no waiting. The moment you walk out the door, your credit card is charged for your purchases.
It's convenient shopping with a taste of tech.
Jilea and Jamie Hemmings opened their Nourish + Bloom grocery in Fayetteville, Georgia, in February, delivering a "frictionless" shopping experience with a contactless checkout system powered by computer vision.
Thirty ceiling cameras and shelves with scales track what customers pick up. Intel Core processors, visual processing units and RealSense cameras offer computer vision, on-site analytics, advanced freezer/chiller temperature tracking and a self-checkout option for those who prefer it.
Other technology partners include Microsoft and UST.
"We came up with this project during the pandemic," says Jamie, who like his wife, Jilea, has a background in the tech and food industries. "During that time, no one was coming outside, no one wanted to touch anything. So we wanted to come up with something that was innovative and something that would hold up for the pandemic."
In this post-pandemic world, Jamie says, 87% of consumers prefer to shop in stores with touchless or self-checkout options.
It's a glimpse of the future, says Chris O'Malley, director of marketing in Intel's Internet of Things Group. Customer journeys are faster and more convenient, and store owners like Jilea and Jamie get out of scanning, bagging and taking money, and concentrate more on talking to customers and replenishing shelves according to data collected on each customer visit. It's much like what the ATM did for banking, O'Malley adds. You no longer go into the bank to get $20, but when you need to speak to someone, they can spend more quality time helping you with finance and loans.
Alec Gefrides, vice president in Intel's Network and Edge Group, says technology allows businesses - even your neighborhood grocery - to do innovative things.
Nick McKeown, senior vice president and general manager of the Network and Edge Group, says more Intel customers are looking to introduce edge computing - computing on the premises - to improve their businesses, whether by using artificial intelligence to track customer habits, inventory and supply chains or by using touchless and fully automated purchasing like Nourish + Bloom.
Such deployments, McKeown says, number 45,000 in more than 160 countries.
"I'm a mom," says Jilea. "I'm the one who's at 5 a.m. like, 'Oh my gosh, I forgot to get things for my kids for lunch.' It's great that we have markets like this where I can come in and within five minutes be back at home to my family. I definitely see this model as being the future for sure."
