Instacart and Weis Markets, a Northeastern U.S. grocery chain, are rolling out AI-powered “Caper Carts” across select Weis stores in Pennsylvania. Each cart packs cameras, a touchscreen, built-in scales, and location tracking, letting shoppers scan and bag items as they go while the screen pushes ads, eCoupons, loyalty signups, and “Buy It Again” prompts based on where they are in the store. Instacart pitches the carts as part of its “Physical AI for grocery,” pairing on-cart computing with cloud AI it says was built on over 1.6 billion past grocery orders. One feature nudges shoppers to double-check they have everything, which Instacart says has lifted average basket size by nearly a percentage point. Caper Cart deployments have tripled over prior years, with rivals like Kroger testing their own smart carts.
