By Q3 this year,, Singapore’s first intelligent shopping carts, MediaCarts, will make their debut at a new Cold Storage supermarket outlet in Singapore’s latest research hub - Fusionopolis.

Media Cart Asia, a retail marketing media company, will pilot its flagship product, MediaCartTM System at this new store. MediaCartTM is a technology-enabled shopping cart that brings about point-of-sales product promotions at the retail shop floor. It incorporates RFID technologies, amongst others, to identify shopper’s location and profile, and delivers targeted advertisement and promotional messages to shoppers via a LCD screen mounted at the front of the cart. In addition, MediaCartTM is also an efficient shopping tool as shoppers can use the cart to find items or view their shopping list.

For the Cold Storage deployment, the MediaCart will incorporate the new Reader IC chip, a technology developed by IME that has since been spun off as Fermi. The IME Reader IC chip helps drive down the cost of cart significantly. This is the latest application of the chip that Exploit Technologies, the commercialisation arm of A*STAR, has successfully incorporated into an innovative product.

Media Cart Asia has been working closely with A*STAR, SPRING Singapore and the National RFID Centre to develop the next generation of shopping carts since September 2007. The aim is to leverage on significant R&D expertise within A*STAR to design a new generation of Media Cart that is lower in cost, has better usability and is easy to manufacture and deploy at the retail stores. Media Cart Asia was able to synergise the development efforts and is now well on track to deliver the new generation of shopping carts for deployment in Asia, with Singapore being the first country to pilot the system.

Mr Boon Swan Foo, Executive Chairman of Exploit Technologies, and Chairman of National RFID Centre Steering Commitee said, "We are excited that Exploit Technologies has successfully commercialised A*STAR RFID technology to bolster the market potential of a local firm like Media Cart Asia. This collaboration certainly marks a strong market entry of A*STAR's new Reader IC chip. The Reader IC chip's practical application will strengthen Singapore retail industry, and give it a competitive edge in the fast changing retail landscape."