Circle K Introduces Fully Frictionless Checkout Experience in Arizona to Enhance Ease and Convenience for Customers

Company exploring fully autonomous checkout solutions in existing Arizona Circle K stores that deliver speedy, seamless store experience, exemplifying company's commitment to innovation.

TEMPE, Ariz., Oct. 12, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Circle K is introducing fully frictionless technology at existing stores in Arizona as part of its innovation journey and mission to make its customers' lives a little easier every day. By adding this seamless checkout technology, the company is looking to enhance the shopping experience for both customers and team members.

Bringing a fully frictionless experience to several existing Arizona stores in Tempe and Tucson is the next step by Circle K parent company Alimentation Couche-Tard (Couche-Tard) to incorporate technologies that make the customer journey easier and more convenient. Earlier this year, Couche-Tard created its first frictionless location in its store on the campus of McGill University in Montreal. Here the company is also collaborating in a live retail lab to explore how frictionless technology impacts shopper behavior and improves the customer experience.

Beginning this week, a retrofitted Circle K store in Tempe will offer customers a fully autonomous checkout experience using technology developed by Standard AI. Inside the store, a network of cameras is mounted at strategic locations to accurately associate customers with the products they pick up, working with the store's existing layout, fixtures, lighting, inventory management systems and visual merchandising plans. Customers' purchases are recorded on the Circle K mobile app, eliminating time spent at traditional checkout areas.  In the coming weeks, more retrofitted Circle K locations will roll out in Arizona as the company explores different fully autonomous checkout solutions.

"We are continually exploring ways to introduce technology that empowers our teams and shows our commitment to be a leader in retail innovation," said Deborah Hall Lefevre, Couche-Tard's Chief Technology Officer. "In Montreal, we built and opened our first frictionless location. In Arizona, we are going the next step by retrofitting existing stores with autonomous self-checkout systems to gain further insights into how frictionless technology can both make it easy and save time for our customers and allow our team members to focus on delivering a great experience. At all times, the privacy of our customers' data is our highest priority."

Ms. Hall Lefevre adds that, in addition to improving and speeding up the customer experience, the autonomous checkout systems enhance the work experience for store team members as the technology gives them more time to help customers with their shopping journey. Ms. Hall Lefevre also emphasizes that being a company investing in innovation and growth is important to attracting and retaining employees interested in companies on the forefront of advancements in convenience and mobility.

Moving forward, the company will monitor and evaluate lessons learned from these frictionless technologies and experiences, both from customer and team member feedback, as it progresses in its innovation work and network deployment. 

About Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc.

Couche-Tard is a global leader in convenience and fuel retail, operating in 26 countries and territories, with close to 14,200 stores, of which approximately 10,800 offer road transportation fuel. With its well-known Couche-Tard and Circle K banners, it is one of the largest independent convenience store operator in the United States and it is a leader in the convenience store industry and road transportation fuel retail in Canada, Scandinavia, the Baltics, as well as in Ireland. It also has an important presence in Poland and Hong Kong SAR. Approximately 124,000 people are employed throughout its network.

For more information on Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. or to consult its quarterly Consolidated Financial Statements and Management Discussion and Analysis, please visit: https://corpo.couche-tard.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this press release may constitute forward looking statements within the meaning of securities legislation, including those with respect to the potential transaction. Positive or negative verbs such as "believe", "can", "shall", "intend", "expect", "estimate", "assume" and other related expressions are used to identify such statements. Such statements are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of Couche-Tard and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties outside of Couche-Tard's control. Couche-Tard would like to point out that, by their very nature, forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties such that its results, or the measures it adopts, could differ materially from those indicated in or underlying these statements, or could have an impact on the degree of realization of a particular projection. Unless otherwise required by applicable securities laws, Couche-Tard disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. The forward-looking information in this release is based on information available as of the date of the release.

SOURCE Circle K Stores Inc.