The smart trolleys reshaping Aussie retail property

Grocery shoppers will soon be able to skip the queue in supermarkets across Australia with the arrival of smart trolleys – a move that comes with a shopping list of opportunities and risks for retailers and commercial landlords.  

Supermarket giant Coles is rolling out AI-powered smart trolleys fitted with cameras, built-in scales and screens that it says will make the shopping experience more convenient.  

Consumers will be able to track their spending and loyalty program benefits, receive personalised promotions and pay for their groceries directly all from the trolley. 

The smart trolleys come from US-based Instacart, and Coles is the first retailer in the Asia Pacific region to try them out. 

It comes as supermarkets and other retailers look at new ways to learn more about our shopping habits and bridge the experience gap between e-commerce and traditional brick-and-mortar stores. 

And this new tech may have have flow-on benefits – and consequences – for retail real estate owners as well. 

Supermarkets are constantly looking for a competitive edge over rivals. Picture: Supplied

The arrival of smart trolleys will be a boon for consumers who hate waiting in long queues at the end of their shop – smart trolley users have an 18 per cent faster in-store experience on average, according to Instacart. 

This could be a point of difference that boosts all-important foot traffic in the cut-throat supermarket business.  

Retail real estate owners may also be able to learn data-driven insights on customer behaviour – if their supermarket tenant is happy to share the data.  

There are lots of takeaways for landlords to consider, including customer dwelling times, store layout efficiency, common area designs, energy efficiency and more.  

But the new trolleys come with some risks to consider, starting with energy.  

It takes about 10 hours to charge a stack of 10 smart trolleys carts from zero to 100 per cent, with an average battery life of up to 14 hours.  

While the smart trolleys may not consume as much energy as larger appliances, landlords will need to make sure they have the right infrastructure so they can be plugged in and charged somewhere convenient.  

Coles is only offering the smart trolleys at its Richmond Traders location in Melbourne so far. Picture: Supplied

Internet connectability will be also a factor, given the numerous cameras, scales and screens that just one trolley will need to talk to another – as well as the business. 

All of this means landlords will be under pressure to keep their wireless internet infrastructure at peak performance.  

Landlords will probably have to consider other factors such as security due to the cost of the trolleys, and the risk of any tech upgrades becoming obsolete given the rapid pace of innovation.  

Smart trolleys are the latest retail innovation to reach Australia’s shores, and will likely make the retail real estate market ever more attractive.  

Retail real estate investment jumped 37 per cent year-on-year to $8.58 billion nationally in 2024, according to Colliers.  

The retail asset class has been making a comeback in recent years due to the lack of new shopping space being built and increasing optimism around population growth and consumer spending. 

That said, e-commerce still presents a threat to physical retail space – something retail landlords and market watchers are ever mindful of.  

So far, Coles is only offering the smart trolleys at one location in Melbourne, but all eyes will be on how shoppers use them and whether they are worth the cost.