Robomart, the rolling convenience store that brings the convenience store right to your front door, is diversifying by allowing retailers to use its platform to offer fast, convenient at-home shopping experiences.
Through the launch of its new Retailer Platform, Santa Monica, California-based Robomart is allowing retailers to sign up as partners to deploy branded stores on wheels that consumers can hail right to their door, cutting out time otherwise needed for going to the store or typical delivery order fulfillment.
By delivering the entire store to the customer, Robomart claims it is providing a delivery shopping experience that is “exponentially faster than any other delivery service, including Instacart and Gopuff, helping retailers increase deliveries by up to 500 percent.”
That fanciful claim is backed up by the company’s description of an end-to-end experience, where the customer opens the app and then has the goods in hand, that can be recorded in a manner of minutes—with the average time reportedly being nine minutes. Robomart is accepting reservations from retailers on a first-come, first-served basis, with deployments beginning in early 2022.
Consumers can hail a Robomart using the proprietary app and when it arrives, open the doors with the app and handpick their products. Robomart’s RFID-based, checkout-free system allows consumers to take their selected products and simply walk away without physically checking out and paying. With the Robomart Platform, retailers can now benefit from this new offering and increase revenue through an industry-first sales channel.
Retailers can book any of six available Robomart Types: Snacks, Grocery, Pharmacy, Cafe, Ice Cream and Fast Food. Snacks, Grocery and Cafe Robomarts are equipped with refrigeration modules to keep perishable items fresh and drinks cold. Snacks, Grocery, Pharmacy and Cafe Robomarts will be available for deployment in early 2022; Ice Cream and Fast Food Robomarts are currently in development and slated to join the fleet in late 2022.
Providing a turn-key solution for retailers to reach consumers faster, Robomart manages nearly every aspect of the operating model. Retailers will decide which of their products to feature as SKUs within the scope of each Robomart Type, determine and set pricing of their products, have personalized, full vehicle branding and select from available operating zones in the Greater Los Angeles area in which to deploy. Utilizing restocking stations in each zone, Robomart will manage all product stocking, tagging, scanning, quality control and replenishment. Retailers will have access to a robust reporting dashboard to observe sales data and analytics.
“We founded Robomart with the vision to create the fastest way to shop, and this launch allows us to power next minute delivery for retailers,” said Robomart co-founder Ali Ahmed. “We look forward to Robomart’s continued growth, as an industry leader offering an experience no other delivery service can match.”
The launch of the platform follows a successful partnership with Reef, Miami’s original “Unicorn” and the largest operator of mobility and logistics hubs and neighborhood kitchens in North America. As a result of the success of the initial deployment, Reef has now expanded the scope of its agreement with Robomart, and as the platform’s first retailer, will be deploying an additional fleet of Robomarts across all of Los Angeles.
