By Telpo Editorial Team
In July 2026, Fujitsu began a field trial with AEON Food Style of an AI agent that supports store strategy and sales-floor layout planning — taking over repetitive analysis so store managers can return their attention to customers and floor operations. It is a small trial, but it captures where retail is heading: AI is moving out of the back office and onto the shop floor. Third-party research, including estimates from Strategy& (PwC), suggests AI could add up to USD 310 billion in annual profits for the global retail sector by 2030 — and much of that value will be won or lost at the checkout chain, where the most repetitive work in the store still lives.
The checkout chain still has an “AI gap.” Across supermarkets, convenience stores, and quick-service restaurants, self-checkout stations largely operate without AI risk control: missed scans directly lift store shrink. Fresh produce, bakery, and deli items have no standard barcode, so a single transaction takes longer — and peak-hour queues walk away with the revenue. High-compute smart terminals are closing that gap by taking over recognition, settlement, and early-warning tasks that once consumed staff hours.
Telpo has co-developed an AI loss-prevention self-checkout with a major retail partner to plug the risk-control hole in unattended settlement. The machine uses a fisheye IPC camera for 360-degree monitoring of the bagging area, with AI algorithms flagging unscanned items in real time and a tri-color warning light alerting staff before loss occurs. Its 21.5-inch HD display and 8GB + 64GB memory deliver second-level settlement, while face, QR-code, and tap-to-pay NFC cover discount stores, convenience chains, 24-hour unattended stores, and click-and-collect — diverting traffic and cutting cashier headcount in one step. Alongside this terminal, Telpo’s self-service kiosk line — including taxi-booking, price-checking, and voice-interaction kiosks co-deployed with a leading global mobility platform — extends the same self-service logic to more in-store touchpoints.
For campus canteens, corporate dining, and fresh-food retail, the Telpo C50 AI vision checkout terminal removes the non-barcoded-item bottleneck entirely. Dual AI recognition cameras identify dishes and packaged fresh goods without RFID tableware; a Lego-style fully modular structure lets operators mix and match trays, overhead cameras, and face-recognition modules; built-in voice guidance lowers the learning curve; and a companion IoT management platform centralizes maintenance across branches. In live deployments, the C50 has already served the bakery sections of top-tier supermarkets and high-traffic canteen networks.
Above the devices, an AI “brain” for the store. Store management is moving from experience-driven to AI-assisted, and the Telpo V15 Edge AI Box is built to be that brain on-premises: parsing existing camera feeds for customer-flow heatmaps, smart shelf and stock monitoring, loss-prevention behavior analysis, queue optimization, staff service behavior, and in-store advertising. The box delivers 6 TOPS of NPU performance and handles 16 channels of 1080p or 32 channels of 720p video, upgrading a store’s existing cameras instead of replacing them.
Early deployments point to measurable gains. Across China, convenience stores using heatmap-driven re-merchandising report double-digit lifts in zone sales, supermarkets have cut stockout response from minutes to seconds, and a premium EV brand’s 4S stores run customer-flow and service analytics across dozens of camera feeds — all on Telpo hardware. “AI at the checkout is no longer a demo — it is a supply-chain question,” said a Telpo manager. “Chains standardizing on AI checkout need stable long-run supply, ODM customization, and payment certifications such as EMV and PCI PTS in place before rollout, not after.”
Founded in 1999, Telpo operates a CNAS-accredited laboratory, holds more than 300 patents, and maintains an engineering team of over 200 people, supplying smart retail POS solutions to 20,000+ industry partners across more than 100 country markets.
About Telpo Telpo is a leading global provider of AI-driven smart terminals and solutions. Founded in 1999, the company develops and manufactures payment terminals, smart POS systems, self-service kiosks, and biometric devices, backed by a CNAS-accredited laboratory and 300+ patents. Telpo’s products serve customers in more than 100 countries and regions across payment, retail, transportation, security, and digital identity, with ODM customization supported from its manufacturing base in Foshan, China.
