Lush Embraces Google AI to Power Faster, Smarter, Waste-Free Checkouts

Lush has just announced a new partnership with Google Cloud, and it's already transforming the way their stores operate. Until recently, store staff had to memorise an enormous catalogue of products and manually enter them into the system at checkout. This resulted in slower transactions, longer queues, and significant pressure on employees, especially during the holiday rush.

Now, that’s changing.

Lush has integrated the AI behind its Lens app, which lets customers scan products with their phones, directly into the tills in its stores. With the help of Google Cloud Storage, which holds a library of more than half a million product images, and Google's Gemini model trained through the Vertex AI platform, tills can now instantly recognise any unpackaged item just by holding it up to the camera.

That once-clunky manual process? It now takes a fraction of a second.

Staff at the Glasgow store say that during the Christmas rush, queues that used to snake out the door were reduced to just a few minutes, all thanks to this upgrade.

Beyond speed, Lush says the impact has been impressive. The new system has helped the company save an estimated 440,000 litres of water by reducing the need for hands-on product demos. It has also made training faster and easier for new hires, which Lush believes is contributing to the creation of a more inclusive work environment. Additionally, the AI-driven accuracy has led to improved billing and more precise inventory management.