The busy and spontaneous lifestyle in urban areas is growing the demand for grocery quick commerce. To meet the growing customer needs we launched a new sustainable and efficient robot delivery service available in the S-kaupat app.
We designed a smooth robot delivery shopping journey and collaborated with the world’s leading provider of autonomous robots Starship Technologies to deliver orders to our customers. Since the service launch in May 2023, the brave AI-aided robots have carried tens of thousands orders around Finland and become a viral phenomenon passionately loved by our customers.
S-kaupat is the most popular online grocery store in Finland.
At S-kaupat, we primarily focus on providing our customers a service that helps them to take care of their weekly groceries. While we identified a growing demand for quick grocery deliveries, especially in the urban areas, we wanted to expand our offering and provide a service which would respond to the needs. At the time, we did not have a nation-wide solution for quick grocery deliveries.
Instead of turning to readily available solutions and current delivery methods, we looked into the future. How will groceries be bought online and delivered in 20 years and how can we take the first steps towards that future today?
S Group’s focus areas in online grocery are
Based on customer insight, we also knew that our customers would mostly be using quick delivery for supplementary and spontaneous shopping. So, we should optimize for speed instead of space.
In the world of online groceries, robots are mostly familiar from fulfilment centers. But in our opinion, robotics should not only help us store and pack the groceries more efficiently. The latest progress in robot technology should also help our customers by making their everyday lives easier by delivering groceries in a fast and ecological way.
The smart Starship robots plan their routes with the help of AI and GPS. They’re aware of their environment and all the details of the route, including road crossings. The robots are also constantly learning more about their surroundings with the help of AI.
The robots operate independently 99 % of the time, even though trained staff can take control of the robot and help navigating whenever needed. They’re equipped with 12 cameras, ultrasonic sensors, and a radar. Computer vision and technology recognising different obstacles help them to move around safely.
In 2022, HOK-Elanto did a small scale pilot with Starship Technologies in Espoo using Alepa stores for robot grocery deliveries. In 2023, S Group decided the robots should get a chance to deliver groceries all over Finland and make the robot deliveries a part of S-kaupat delivery offering as the main quick delivery option.
“The fruitful collaboration between S-kaupat and Starship has resulted in something we truly have never seen before in Finland. The robot deliveries combine beautifully the realities of digital and physical worlds.”
S-kaupat service vision is to become world’s most humane online grocery store. From the get go, one of the main questions we faced was how to make this new delivery option a part of S-kaupat story and make our customers feel that they are getting personal service.
The Starship robots have been designed to have human-like, emotion-provoking features. We took their overall cuteness and AI-aided intelligent movements as a centrepiece of designing the service. The robots evoke empathy in our customers, who are eager to help them if the robots get into trouble. Luckily, the robots can also ask for help out loud and encourage people to help them along their journeys.
Highlighting the braveness and hard-working qualities of the delivery robots combined with the easiness of the order-making flow are the things we embrace in all of our channels. Based on these selected key messages, we defined the communications, marketing and PR plans to go with the robot delivery service roll-out.
We continuously build upon these emotion sparking qualities in order to create new experiences for our customer and bring them new delights, for example in the form of seasonal Halloween and Christmas looks of the robots. The music is designed to always suit different monthly festivities or trending themes. The seasonal feel extends to the digital form, as the customers scroll on the app and can purchase curated seasonal treats that fit into the robot.
“Please create more deliveries with a sprinkle of humour — the Ghostbusters theme song and pumpkin robots are a great combo for Halloween.”
We have made a decision to make robot delivery an application only experience. The user flow starts with entering customer’s delivery address and robot delivery is offered as an option. The availability of the robots is also shown.
Once the customer selects the robot option, they proceed to selecting and accepting the delivery point on a map. The user gets to browse through the store assortment and fill their shopping cart. After accepting the order, our store employees pick the products, charge the client and send the robot on its way.
Customers can track their order through a real-time robot tracking view. As the robot arrives, customer can open its lid through one button click and enjoy the warm greetings and seasonally changing arrival music the robot plays.
We carefully listen to our customers and improve the shopping experience. For example, one of the latest releases includes a progress bar within the shopping cart, which helps customers to understand how many products could potentially fit into the robot.
The S-kaupat robot deliveries are rolling in 11 cities and include over 40 different stores across Finland. By the end of 2024, our plan is to increase the number of stores to over 100. The service is currently available in Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa, Tampere, Turku, Pori, Rauma, Jyväskylä, Oulu, Lohja and Lieto. As a delight to our customers, the robots expand the S-kaupat quick food commerce to even smaller cities and suburban areas.
When it comes to sustainable growth, Starship robots roll emission-free, as they are powered by electricity. These deliveries have now delighted thousands of households and continue to bring small sparks of joy to our customers.
There has been a significant interest in the media, from Yle to The Times, wondering on what will happen to the robot deliveries once snowy winter weather comes to Finland. Robots got their tires changed to the winter edition and have proved to successfully serve the customers even in the challenging weather conditions!
“The robot was really hard-working, even though it had some tricky moments along its route to us. It brought a lot of joy to us.”
“To me, these delivery robots are the best thing in the world. They create hope for the future in a chaotic world.”
The robot delivery team designing and developing the service includes both SOK employees and our partners.
A warm thank you to everyone else contributing to robot delivery work at S-kaupat, Starship Technology team members, S group co-operatives, Starship pilot project members and the wider network for the collaboration and support.