Foodcellar Market the first to rollout Instacart’s Scan & Pay checkout tech

Long Island City, N.Y., grocer Foodcellar Market is the first retailer to fully deploy Instacart’s new Scan & Pay checkout technology.

The system, which has been operating for several weeks, allows Foodcellar Market customers to scan items with their smart phones as they shop, and also allows them to skip checkout lines by paying with their mobile devices. 

Metin Mangut, Foodcellar Market co-founder, said in a statement that the retailer is satisfied with the early adoption. Instacart additionally said usage is spurred in part by shoppers not needing to download an app or learn how to use complicated technology.

The way the tech works: Shoppers scan the QR code attached to a sign at the front of the store to open Scan & Pay in their mobile browser. The technology also enables customers to track their spending as they scan items, which eliminates the need for mental calculations or being surprised at the register, Instacart said.

When done, customers can checkout from their phone and show a QR code as they leave the store to confirm payment.

The technology also links the items customers buy to their online Instacart account to make it easier to purchase the products again, the company said. In addition, the system identifies selections that are EBT SNAP-eligible to make it easier to locate approved products.

Scan & Pay is most active during the peak shopping hours of 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., and for smaller basket sizes of typically less than 10 items, according to Instacart.

To help prevent fraud, grocers will be able to monitor Scan & Pay transactions in real-time via dashboards to stay on top of pattern shifts, Instacart said.

Foodcellar Market’s adoption of Scan & Pay is its latest initiative in a partnership with Instacart. The retailer also served as an innovation and testing hub for Caper Carts, Instacart’s AI-powered shopping carts that are equipped with scales, sensors, touchscreens, and computer vision technology that identify items placed in carts without manual scanning and enable shoppers to checkout from the cart. 

Scan & Pay, along with Caper Carts, is part of Instacart’s Connected Store technology platform intended to support both online ordering and in-store shopping.