BoB Profit Partners LLC, a company focused on “bottom of basket” losses, was selected from more than 170 applicants as a finalist in Ben Franklin’s BIG IDEA Contest. BoB’s loss prevention technology leverages Phase IV Engineering’s Leap Sensors to detect when items are left behind in the shopping cart.
“Every retailer using shopping carts with bottom racks experiences losses of unpaid, forgotten items at checkout,” says Craig Moyer, BoB Profit Partners’ founder and CEO. “Our state-of-the-art retail loss prevention technology solution addresses unpaid merchandise left on the bottom racks of shopping carts at cashier checkout lanes and self-checkout lanes, ultimately improving store profitability. We are thrilled Ben Franklin Technology Partners recogniSes the immense value our innovation can deliver, and we look forward to competing with other emerging entrepreneurs, startups and small manufacturers on pitch day.”
The backbone of BoB’s innovation is Phase IV’s latest breakthrough, the Leap Sensors system. With its advanced wireless sensor design, combined with rugged enclosures and equipment, the system is designed specifically to meet the demanding needs of industrial and commercial clients. The system’s modularity makes it easy to adapt to a client’s specific requirements, streamlining the proof-of-concept process.
Leap Sensors combine wireless technology and edge computing in a flexible internet-connected system that meets the demanding needs of industrial clients. The system’s advanced design makes it simple to combine multiple, different types of sensors on one device through rugged sensor technology and powerful processors. Equipped with actionable data, users can better monitor critical equipment and processes knowing ahead of time where a problem might occur.
In this application, Leap Sensors alert both shoppers and cashiers to items in hard-to-see areas of their cart so they remember to purchase the items. The BoB solution affixes a wireless mounted sensor to shopping carts to detect when items are left behind. Checkout lanes are equipped with a reader to notify the cashier and the customer of bottom-of-basket items, providing a simple, easy-to-implement method to reduce losses by ensuring all items are properly rung up. Not only is this a benefit to shoppers, but items left in carts cost U.S. retailers more than $2 billion (€1.73 billion) each year in lost sales.
“Items left in shopping carts are the ultimate missed sales opportunity,” says Scott Dalgleish, CEO of Phase IV Engineering. “By reminding the customer to complete the purchase of the items they selected, it helps avoid a return trip to the store by the customer and increases order size for retailers all by simply helping to complete an intended purchase.”
Ben Franklin Technology Partners’ BIG IDEA Contest is a $50,000 (€43,280.67) innovation contest for entrepreneurs and innovative organisations located in Ben Franklin’s 32-county footprint in Pennsylvania. The finalists, including BoB Profit Partners, American Daedalus, Swift Aeroseed and Neonatal Loving Kare, among others, will compete in a virtual setting on Oct. 14, 2021. In addition to the $50,000 (€43,280.67) prize, audience members who will be attending pitch day via Zoom will have the opportunity to vote for their favorite presentation in the $2,500 (€2,164.03) People’s Choice Award.
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