Groceryshop 2019 The Coresight Research team will be attending and participating in the Groceryshop 2019 conference, which runs September 15-18 in Las Vegas. The conference is expected to bring together over 3,000 attendees and more than 200 speakers. Discussion topics will include the transformation of the retail industry, including convenience stores, supermarkets and e-commerce, and changes in the production and distribution of CPGs across multiple retail verticals. The event also covers the rapid shifts in how consumers discover, shop and buy — from the use of new technologies and business models to the latest shopper trends. Emerging Technology Spotlight Session This is the second year the Coresight Research team will support Groceryshop’s early-stage technology startup event: On September 15, Coresight Research CEO and Founder Deborah Weinswig will emcee the Emerging Technology Spotlight, which features 20 innovative technology companies presenting their solutions to solve major retail problems. Groceryshop selected the participating startups based on their solutions, looking for companies that solve some of the most pressing challenges in grocery, e-commerce, food and CPG. All participating startups offer business-to-business (B2B) solutions. Over 130 companies applied to present at the event: From that group, we selected the 20 using a rigorous vetting process. These are some of the selection criteria:

• Early-stage, defined as pre-series A funding.
• Relevant to the grocery and/or CPG industries.
• B2B solutions (not consumer-facing).
• Scalable (good growth prospects).
• Highly innovative (deep differentiation).
• Important (solving a major industry problem).

The companies span several countries, although most are based in the US:

• US: 14
• Canada: 2
• Israel: 2
• Australia: 1
• Spain: 1

We categorized the 20 companies into four buckets of retail disruption: Data and Insights: Digital technology is creating new metrics and capabilities to glean insights and understand the best way to meet and exceed customer expectations. Improved Shopping Experiences: Shoppers demand intuitive and more seamless grocery experiences, both online and in-store. Grocery retailers face challenges in keeping their assortment up to date and in sync with fast-changing consumer demand. Next Generation Marketing: With so many different touchpoints and channels to reach consumers, engagement has become more complex than ever. And, there are rapid shifts in how consumers discover, shop and buy. New marketing technologies help grocery retailers and CPG’s engage and acquire customers. Operations and Supply Chain: Over the next few years, new omnichannel grocery offerings will likely go mainstream, giving consumers new experiences as well as more convenient delivery and pickup options. Simultaneously, technologies such as robotics, AI and IOT are changing how grocery items move from producer to store to consumer. Tiliter Technology at a Glance Founded in 2017, Tiliter Technology uses AI and computer vision to provide an object identification tool for fresh produce at retail checkouts (point-of-sale and self-checkout). The solutions use plugin cameras to recognize fruits and vegetables so cashiers and shoppers using self-checkout do not need to manually input price look-up (PLU) numbers from a long menu of fruits and vegetables. The solution can speed the checkout process, prevent theft and could reduce plastic waste by reducing need to use separate plastic bags for fruits and vegetable. The plugin camera can be applied to existing point-of-sale (POS) and self-checkout (SCO) systems. Tiliter specifically designed its hardware to identify products locally, meaning no internet connection is required. The information is then fed to either a standalone interface or the point of sale interface. [caption id="attachment_95973" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Source: Tiliter Technology [/caption]   What Problem Does Tiliter Technology Solve? The company believes its solution addresses problems such as long lines (by speeding the checkout process by cutting the number of items that need manual product entry), self-checkout frustration and plastic pollution. Research by environmental consultants Euonomia estimate that top supermarkets in Europe are creating a plastic waste problem in excess of 800,000 tonnes per year: Because the solution can identify fresh produce such as red apples and avocadoes with automatic detection, it may reduce the use of many plastic bags for fruits and vegetables. Retailers have thousands of vendors from which to choose when selecting a barcode scanning system — many of which are not plug-and-play solutions and may require substantial time and effort to integrate into current business processes. Tiliter allows for an easy upgrade of existing computer and manual processes to include its solution. Headquarters Sydney. Funding Stage Seed. Management Team Cofounder and CEO Marcel Herz has a background in mechanical, bio-medical and design engineering. Cofounder and CTO Christopher Sampson was test systems engineer at Cochlear prior to cofounding Tiliter Technology. He has a master’s degree in engineering science, systems and control from the University of New South Wales in Australia. Co-founder and CTO Martin Karafilis cofounded Karra’s Lures, an environmentally friendly fishing lure company. He has a background in business, human resource management and marketing. Market Potential According to Global Market Insights, the global self-checkout system market is set to exceed $4 billion by 2024. Company Outlook In August 2019, Tiliter received its first orders and is currently working in partnerships with several start-up programs, including the Autodesk Entrepreneur Impact Group and Microsoft for Startups Program. The company is actively expanding its team and focussing on US and Europe launches. Tiliter may expand its offering into a business-to-business (B2B), business-to-consumer platform (B2C) so anyone in any industry can use the software to build their own recognition solution so it can be integrated to existing computer systems or used as a stand-alone software.