Public Funding for Esquare Innovations Limited

The outbreak of Covid-19 is unprecedented and its impact on the retail sector has been profound. For example, Britain's biggest retailer [Tesco][0] expects to take a hit of up to 925 million pounds ($1.1 billion) from the costs of dealing with the coronavirus pandemic (CNBC). This is not unique to Tesco nor Britain. A bigger impact in long term is expected to come from the changes in consumers' behaviours as a result of Covid-19\. These changes will range from how consumers shop to what and where they shop. One area where the change is already evident is use of shopping trolleys. Fewer consumers are now preferring to use trolleys, especially those with coin locks as they are concerned of transmission of virus via coins. Retailers, especially supermarkets are having to adapt to this new world quicker than anticipated. Part of this change will include understanding shoppers' behaviours in physical stores so that retailers can improve sales by optimised store layouts. To address these market needs, our innovation will deliver a coinless trolley lock with shopper tracking and data analytics that will help retailers to: * Improve sales: By understanding how a shopper interacts with the store, how long they spend in different aisles can help retailers determine, for example, optimal placement of demos and special display locations, etc... effectively helping for store layout optimisation. * **Encourage use of trolleys:** By incentivising consumers using trolleys. These incentives could include discount coupons, reward points, prize draws, etc.. * **Improve customer satisfaction:** By freeing consumers from having to use coins to unlock trolleys * **Better prepared for pandemic times:** In times of a pandemic, monitor traffic on the shop floor, which can help with social distancing guidance. [0]: https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=TSCO-GB