The issue of shopping carts being stolen, lost, or damaged is an age-old problem for retailers. With each big box store or grocery store carrying a fleet of shopping carts, cart management is a significant consideration for these organizations.
According to a Food Marketing Institute study, over 2 million shopping carts go missing or are stolen every year, resulting in massive financial losses for retailers. With the cost of consumer goods rising, consumers would be well-advised to be concerned about the shopping cart conundrum as well.
Not only are the losses experienced by the retailers passed on to customers through higher prices for goods, but taxpayer funds have even been employed to curb the problem of wayward carts. For instance, in Fayetteville, North Carolina, $78,000 in taxpayer funds were recently used for an initiative to round up missing and stolen carts from the city over a two-year period.
The cost to retailers, consumers, and taxpayers has led many retailers to seek out a new way of managing their cart fleets —- one that provides not only cart protection but also customer engagement and in-depth analytics.
Table of Contents
The TRACARTS (TRAC) solution
Faced with the rising costs and frustration of the cart problem, TRACARTS (TRAC) has emerged as a modern solution to this decades-long problem. “We are here to save the retailer and the consumer time, money, and frustration,” says Chaya Grosinger, the company’s CAO.
The TRAC system significantly reduces shopping cart loss, thereby saving retailers, consumers, and municipalities thousands. However, it is also technology-informed, offering more than just cart management.
“Psychology and technology are part of our platform,” says Grosinger. By combining the human drive to be a good citizen and return their cart with ways for retailers to further engage with their customers, TRACARTS is proving to be the comprehensive solution that is needed.
How it works
With the TRAC system, carts are managed through the TRAC hub — a series of completely customizable cart trains individually outfitted as one, two, or three multidirectional lines of carts hooked into the TRAC system. To install these TRAC systems, retailers simply choose locations in their parking lots based on consumer behavior to ensure electricity availability.
The TRAC hub is easily accessible and keeps shopping carts locked in place when not in use, rather than spread all over the parking lot where they can easily damage cars or suddenly go missing. Through the patented cart retraction system, carts are locked in or released to consumers using smart technology.
Customers can use the TRAC kiosk to retrieve their cart using the White Label app, the fob, a PIN code, or their phone number. When the cart’s smart technology system prompts them that it is time to return the cart, they can do so through the same TRAC system with no further interaction with the kiosk, making it a simple yet effective solution to the problem of missing, stolen, and damaged carts.
The moral psychology of the ‘shopping cart problem’
TRACARTS is unique in that it utilizes psychology as part of its platform. In recent years, the Shopping Cart Theory has emerged as a modern test of moral character, claiming that returning a shopping cart to its rightful place following a shopping trip is the ultimate modern litmus test of someone’s moral fortitude.
Most people see returning their shopping carts to the proper kiosk as “the right thing to do,” even though they receive nothing in return for their good deed other than a good feeling (and, for some, perhaps a slight moral superiority). TRACARTS is harnessing the power of this theory and building the moral test into its platform, finding that more people will be apt to return a cart when prompted based on the good feelings the simple act produces.
The TRACARTS system also poses extra benefits for both shoppers and retailers. The White Label app system provides helpful insights for retailers, including information on how long shoppers are in their stores actively shopping and who is utilizing the carts. Retailers can also use the smart technology system to extend incentivization offers to shoppers, such as VIP offers, coupons, and rewards. The dashboard is completely customizable for the retailer to use in a way that would cater to their organization’s needs.
Positive customer interactions are becoming the best way for retailers to build retention and ensure future success. In a recent study, 64% of shoppers said they want to shop with companies that can “meet their needs in real time.” Through the additional smart technology capabilities of the TRACARTS system, retailers can not only offer solutions to the costly missing cart problem but also take their customer engagement to the next level.
Retailers are turning to TRACARTS as an all-in-one solution to save money, better manage their fleet of carts, and gather better insights and engagement about and with their customers. As more retailers address the cart management issue, money savings and less frustration are sure to follow.
TRACARTS is leading the way in the movement to make costly cart management issues a thing of the past while ushering in better analytics and engagement in the future of retail.
