Aisle 24 offering a cashierless, convenient and secure shopping experience

Through innovation and creativity, and the strategic use of technology, the Canadian groceryexperience may never be the same again // By Shelby Huatala

Aisle 24, Canada’s first cashierless grocery store, is looking to add hundreds of stores throughout the country and internationally while continuously improving its cutting-edge proprietary technology.

Founded in 2016, the company originally served as a grocery vending service in residential buildings selling products such as eggs, bread, and milk before it was presented with an opportunity to partner with Knightstone Capital to open its first cashierless location at Centennial College in Toronto.

“The inspiration to create an experience and store like Aisle 24 came from my parents, who owned an independent convenience store in Toronto when I was in high school,” says John Douang, Co-Founder and CEO of Aisle 24. “When I started my professional career working in technology, I became inspired to create a different kind of grocery store. I saw how hard my parents had to work, often putting in 14-hour days. If they wanted to go on a vacation, they needed to close the store while they were away. The revenue they missed out on is what really inspired me to develop Aisle 24.”

Aisle 24 is open 24/7, 365 days a year, and is available to anyone with an account.

Evolving the grocery experience

Retail businesses have traditionally lagged with respect to the introduction of technology and their use within their stores. And, according to Douang, most merchants operating within the industry have done very little when it comes to aligning the physical in-store experience with that of the online world, despite the growth of ecommerce over recent years.

“Customers are used to buying online” he says. “And, there’s a growing number of people that are now very comfortable using digital technology. A lot of retailers have not done anything to seize this opportunity. And, if they don’t adapt soon, they are going to continue to lose market share. Our goal was to create an experience bridging the convenience of digital with the tactile attributes of the physical brick-and-mortar store.”

Douang is consistently evaluating new technologies and Aisle 24’s customer experience to see how he can further advance it, making it more interesting and interactive for visitors. And, to further evolve the work being done at Aisle 24, it has partnered with Canadian grocer, Sobeys, on an innovative new concept.

“For us, being partnered with a large company that’s also constantly exploring innovation really helps,” he says. “We want to strengthen our relationship with them. It’s a partnership that allows us to expand our products, provide better in-store experiences and makes it a lot easier for us to provide a similar product mix across the board, ensuring that we can maintain consistency for our customers, no matter where they’re shopping with us.”

How Aisle 24 works

Aisle 24 currently operates using a membership system which requires customers to download the Aisle 24 App and create an account online. Once an account has been created and verified, customers gain access to enter each of Aisle 24's store locations, despite where they're situated, with the exception of residential format stores.

“We have two formats available,” he explains. “We have our resident format which sits inside of a residential complex, and is only meant for those residents. Then we have our community format, which is open to the public, and anyone in the community can download the app and access our store.”

Once in the store, customers can expect to shop normally, use the self-checkout service, and pay. The only difference is that there aren’t any staff.

“Customers are enjoying the experience that we're providing through our service, and the feedback we are getting is great,” says Douang. “However, sometimes the more critical feedback is most effective. We like to receive suggestions from our customers concerning the way things could be done better or more effectively. We try to take the feedback and adapt our service and offering to meet their expectations.”

On the app, customers can talk with a representative on its live chat system to provide their feedback and suggestions. With this feedback, positive or negative, Douang says he can use it to meet increasingly evolving customer needs. Aisle 24 also stays proactive by finding out what people want through surveys.

“We get suggestions all the time about what customers want to see in our store because they shop at the store. So, we want to listen, and try and accommodate,” he says.

How technology has helped reduce theft

When technologies and customer needs are continuously evolving, it’s hard to keep up. Aisle 24 is always enhancing its systems to be able to grow and support its customers to give them what they need.

“Understanding what customers want in terms of product offering is critical,” Douang asserts. “It took us a little while and had to undergo a big learning process in order to fully understand our customers and what they want. We had to focus a lot of our attention on the many details of the store, marrying components and technologies to customer preferences and behaviour, to create an engaging and welcoming environment for our customers.”

As for theft, Douang says Aisle 24’s system helps reduce it considerably. In order to create an Aisle 24 account, customers are required to submit a selfie picture. The selfie, combined with the store’s verification system, lets operators know who’s coming and going at all times. And, in addition to linking customer credit card information to the store’s systems, door security system also plays a part in reducing theft. All of Aisle 24’s doors have an interlocking system, sort of like in jewellery stores. Customers must enter two different sets of doors that are locked, providing a significant deterrent to tailgaters, and people attempting to barge in.

“In a traditional environment, with cashiers and security, stores are still dealing with theft and shrinkage,” he says. “Theft and loss is a problem plaguing the entire industry. At Aisle 24 stores, we know who is coming and going, making it a lot more difficult to just walk into one of our stores and steal a product off of the shelf.”

Latest News: Goose Bay pilot

Opening in the summer of 2023, Aisle 24 will be expanding to Goose Bay, Labrador. With an estimated size of somewhere between 10,000 and 20,000 square feet, the new location will be expanding its products to include fresh produce and meats. It will also be a hybrid format which will be open to the public during certain times - even to those who do not have an account.

For off hours, Aisle 24 will be the same as the other locations in its network – customers will need an account to access the store when the doors are locked. Douang says that Aisle 24 will leverage the performance of this pilot location to identify other opportunities for the same format elsewhere in the country.

The future of the grocery experience

Aisle 24 operates 16 stores and is quickly expanding throughout Canada. It has several stores currently under construction and in lease negotiations, with expressed interest in moving into British Columbia and Alberta.

It's all part of the company’s goal of erecting hundreds of locations within the next three years. And, in addition to expanding within Canada, Douang says that he is also strategizing expansion into the United States.

Will Aisle 24 be the future for grocery stores?

“There are so many easy ways for customers to get what they want now,” asserts the grocery innovator. “So, the in-store physical retail experience needs to change. The expectations of customers are much more specific around being digitally-infused, and if you want to be able to offer these types of experiences that customers have become used to receiving in the online world, then you’ve got to adapt and experiment. It really goes a long way in terms of attracting a customer base to create cool experiences that they can’t experience shopping online. Because of this, retailers will really start to focus in on developing innovations, trying new things, testing, and ultimately adapting. There will be a lot of changes within the next ten years. But, what those changes will be will likely be influenced by what the customer wants.”