Standard AI, the world leader in Retail AI, today announced the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire leading self-checkout solutions provider, Skip. Standard AI will become the only company to connect self-checkout with AI-powered autonomous checkout into one integrated experience. The powerful combination will give retailers who are seeking immediate relief from labor pains a self-checkout option with a clearly-defined path to an autonomous future. In another first, Standard AI will integrate Skip’s cloud-based point of sale (POS) with the complex back office ecosystem to streamline operations and give greater control over price, discounts, promotions, and more.
Retail AI has transformed what’s possible in a physical store. Leading retailers use Standard Checkout™ (part of the Vision OS^ platform) to transform existing stores into checkout-free retail experiences that shoppers love. It offers the fastest and most accurate time-to-receipt in the industry and groundbreaking insights about store operations—all from one platform.
Hiring and retaining talent is an existential crisis for retail, one that threatens to limit growth and store performance. This has fueled a renewed energy for self-checkout (SCO) as a strategy for retailers seeking to solve labor challenges. Skip is a leading self-checkout innovator that offers sleek, easy-to-install kiosks and mobile checkout solutions.
“Autonomous retail has seen exponential growth, and in the next five years we’ll see thousands of AI-powered stores across the world,” said Jordan Fisher, CEO of Standard AI. “Through this acquisition, we will create a unique offering that combines the self-checkout experience with autonomous retail for the first time ever to give retailers immediate relief from their labor challenges and a way to accelerate their path to an autonomous future.”
Bridging the Gap Between Self-Checkout and Autonomous Retail
Standard AI is the first to connect SCO and autonomous retail. This will empower retailers to offer innovative checkout experiences to the entire base of shoppers that come through the door. It will also offer shoppers a way to access autonomous retail experiences through the self-checkout kiosks that they’re already familiar with—ensuring a seamless transition to the future of shopping. Skip kiosks can be installed quickly and at a fraction of the cost of competitor options while providing robust functionality.
“Skip has differentiated itself in a crowded field of self-checkout solutions. In addition to being modular and easy to install, it delivers all the functionality required by retailers at a fraction of the cost of its competitors,” said Chase Thomason, founder and CEO, Skip. “By integrating with Standard AI, we are now taking our kiosks to the next level and working on solutions that will go beyond them as we create the future of autonomous checkout.”
Flexibility and Unprecedented Power
Later this year, Standard AI will bring to market the world’s first platform that connects self-checkout with autonomous retail.
Standard AI will continue to sell Skip standalone or together with its Vision OS^ offering (upon close of the acquisition). Retailers can now pick the path that’s right for them:
- GET SKIP: Standard AI will continue to offer Skip as a standalone option for stores that need a fast and inexpensive self-checkout unit to provide more support and flexibility to their in-store teams.
- GET VISION OS^ WITH OPTION FOR SKIP: For stores that want instant relief from labor challenges and a transformed retail experience, Standard AI will offer the option for a Skip kiosk together with the Vision OS^ platform. This means that users can get both the SCO and autonomous checkout experience in one solution. This powerful combination will support the entire shopper base, alleviate labor challenges, unlock an unprecedented level of analytics and insights, and won’t require sacrifices around shrink or customer experience.
“Standard AI’s addition of Skip’s self-checkout solutions creates a well-rounded suite of capabilities to address varying levels of retailer needs—from traditional SCO to fully-autonomous stores and hybrid stores in-between,” says Kevin Struthers, Associate Director of Digital at W. Capra. “Additionally, Skip’s cloud-based point-of-sale system and back-office integrations will help streamline retailer implementations, especially for stores operating hybrid models that include a fixed register with self-checkout or autonomous capabilities.”
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