When retail stores in India are trying to modernize their shops by accepting orders on WhatsApp and creating e-commerce websites, Watsale’s first retail store has taken things to the next level by opening a cashier-free and cash-free store, making it India’s most advanced retail store.
How The Store Works:
Watsale retail store is a fully automated and cashier free store which opened its first branch in Kochi’s Gold Souk Grande Mall.
Just pick up products and walk out with it from the store without turning on any alarm in Wastsale retail store. But the products are not free.
When you walk out of the store the cost of your purchase is debited from your e-wallet. This 500 sq. ft. store in Kochi works using Artificial Intelligence, sensors and camera technology.
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Customers have to download the Watsale app on their phone and register using email ID and phone number. The app then provides a QR code which acts as an identity card and also as a ticket for entry in the store.
The customers, however, do not have to scan every product. The store’s ceiling and shelves are laced with sophisticated sensors and closed circuit cameras.
The system monitors your every moment and records what products you have taken and also what you have put back on the shelf. This is the most advanced retail store in India.
Automated Stores Globally And Their Operation Cost:
The store is inspired by other autonomous stores around the globe like Amazon Go in US and BingoBox in China.
According to Hans Tung, a managing partner at GVV, the investors of BingoBox, stores like these payback within 5 months.
The store makes around $150-$300 per day and the monthly operational cost of such autonomous stores is less than $632.
If that is the same case for the Watsale retail store, it could pave a way for more stores to open such autonomous shops not just in retail but other departments as well.
Currently, Watsale store only houses 180 products and they don’t intend to add more products. This is to avoid the store from getting cramped which might affect the sensors and other technology involved.
Within three months, Watsale group is planning to expand into Bengaluru and to Delhi shortly after that. Watsale retail store will surely change the course of the retail market in India.
Image Credits: Google Images
Sources: Times Of India, The Hindu, Indian Express + more
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