Robomart Stores Debuting in California

f you're a resident of West Hollywood, Robomart is happy to announce that it can now bring the store to you in the form of mini-mart mobiles.  You read that right; only recently did Robomart launch a fleet of on-demand, mobile mini-marts that offer you the facility to buy items from the comforts of your doorstep.  

Robomart debuted the world’s first self-driving store, a driverless concept with autonomous technology to showcase what they have in store for the future. At the moment, they use human drivers until regulations allow complete driving automation. There is no contact with the drivers - a contactless experience.

“We're incredibly excited to launch Robomart in West Hollywood and introduce consumers to the latest innovation in retail.  In the past decade, online delivery services have grown substantially and filled a need in the market; however, there are still many challenges that make these services undesirable for consumers.  With Robomart, we're disrupting the industry. We have received incredible feedback from consumers on how this is the most convenient way to shop — delivering the fastest and most seamless shopping experience — which other delivery services simply can't offer." Rejoiced Ali Ahmed, the Co-Founder of Robomart.

How did Robomart come into being?

While working at Unilever more than a decade ago, Emad S.  Rahim and Ali Ahmed dreamt of setting up on-demand mobile grocery stores.  But it wasn't until 2018 when Robomart took its roots.  

In early 2018, Tigran Shahverdyan (an expert in robotics) joined forces with Ali and Emad to co-found Robomart and materialize their initial idea of setting up an on-demand mobile grocery store.  

In a short time, Robomart debuted the world’s first self-driving store, a driverless concept with autonomous technology to showcase what they have in store for the future.  They did so at a Consumer Electronics Show.

The audience welcomed this concept, and due to the increasing demand for grocery services, Robomart recently launched the world's first “store-hailing” service.

What happens at Robomart

Robomart believes in customer convenience; for that reason, it launched the world's first store-hailing service, making shopping easier than ever for its customers.  Robomart is the first store that comes to you.

Robomart believes in autonomous technology, and the Company has the vision to launch the world's first self-driving store, a driverless concept.

To make use of store-hailing services, West Hollywood citizens need only 'hail' the mobile store using the proprietary Robomart app, and it will arrive within 10 minutes.  This makes Robomart's mobile stores the fastest delivery service available today, as claimed by Robomart.  

You can handpick your items directly from the Robomart after swiping in the app to open the door of the Robomart.  After that, you can just pick your items; there's no need to even scan them or your card.  Robomart tracks the products you've picked, and you get a receipt once your card is charged.  The Company believes in no checkout, no tip, and no hassle.

The store-hailing platform features two Robomart types, a pharmacy Robomart and a Snacks Robomart.  The Snacks Robomart offers candies, chocolates, chips, Gatorade, soft drinks, tea, and other snack products.  Pharmacy Robomart includes shampoos, mouthwashes, hand sanitizers, cough drops, ibuprofen, shaving creams, and washing detergents.

Future of Robomart

Retail delivery vehicles are becoming more and more popular nowadays.  People are relying more and more also on ride-hailing companies such as Lyft and Uber and food delivery services.  While estimates vary, online food delivery is anticipated to generate up to $220 billion in sales by 2023, accounting for up to 40% of overall restaurant sales.

Ahmed Ali said, “In the past decade, online delivery services have grown substantially and filled a need in the market.  With Robomart, we’re disrupting the industry and have received incredible feedback from consumers." Because of this, it can be expected that other companies also started to invest in retail delivery vehicles using autonomous technology.  Robomart has been a hit, and in the future, we can only expect other c-stores and grocery stores to launch similar store-hailing services.

Earlier this week, Robomart announced the launch of Robomart’s Retailer Platform, which allows retailers to partner with Robomart to deploy branded stores on wheels that consumers can hail to their door. The Platform is accepting reservations on a first-come, first-served basis with deployments beginning in early 2022. 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.

Robomart partnered with industrial organizations like South San Francisco, Zeeba, and radio frequency identification (RFID) providers Zebra Technologies, based in Lincolnshire, Illinois, and Glendale, California based Avery Dennison.  

As of today, the Robomart is only available for IOS users, but as autonomous technology develops further, an app will be launched for Android users as well.

According to Chain Store Age, Robomart is also planning to expand its fleet to include Café, Pantry, and Deli Robomarts.  Also, Robomart is still in the development phase with its Grocery Robomart, which will offer vegetables, fruits, and other refrigerated items once launched.  The Company also plans to expand its services throughout Southern California and the East Coast.

As people are adjusting to the 'new ordinary,' due to Covid-19, online and mobile deliveries are gaining significant traction as a safe and easy option for deliveries.  This has and will continue to shape consumer behaviors.  As of May 2020, there was a 202% increase in online grocery delivery web searches in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak.  As these habits have become the norm, mobile delivery systems have a bright future.