is one of a number of new ventures worldwide that are aiming to outsmart Amazon in upgrading our grocery shopping experience. The three major complaints about grocery shopping, says Michael Gabay, Trigo’s co-founder and CEO, are “waiting in line, out-of-stock products, and not knowing where the product you want is located.”
The first application developed by Trigo, currently deployed by leading grocery store chains in the U.K. , Germany , The Netherlands , the U.S. , and Israel , turns traditional grocery stores into frictionless supermarkets where shoppers can walk in, select their items, and walk out without having to queue at checkout or scan any items.Trigo’s technology does not use facial recognition, nor does it capture biometric data or hold any direct identifiers of customers.
The technology used by Trigo is very complex, the algorithms very sophisticated, and many of the startup’s 200 employees are involved in long-term R&D. “It took us a few years to be able to say, ‘we support all the products in the store’ and to reach 99% accuracy,” says Gabay.