City Research Online

Abstract

Smart shopping carts are a promising in-store innovation, yet little is known about how shoppers use this technology. Adopting a descriptive empirics-first approach, we analyze field data (12,418 shopping sessions) from a major German supermarket to examine how smart cart usage is associated with key metrics such as basket size, basket value, and shopping duration. We find that smart cart usage is associated with higher spending, larger baskets, and longer in-store durations, with patterns varying by context such as time of day and day of the week. Among users, distinct behavioral patterns emerge. For example, shopping list uploaders are associated with higher basket value but smaller baskets and shorter trips, whereas “superusers,” defined by higher interaction levels, are associated with longer durations and more items. By providing behavioral evidence from real-world usage, this study advances understanding of observable shopping patterns among interactive in-store technology users in physical retail environments.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2026. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Publisher Keywords:	Smart shopping carts; In-store technology; Shopper Behavior; Empirics-first
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor H Social Sciences > HM Sociology H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform Q Science > QA Mathematics > QA75 Electronic computers. Computer science
Departments:	Bayes Business School Bayes Business School > Faculty of Management
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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