Supermarket chain Sainsbury's has introduced a new payment option, by which customers can scan their shopping on the go and pay from any location within the store.
The technology uses the latest version of the SmartShop app and is being tested in London's Clapham North Station outlet.
Customers were already using the app in 68 other Sainsbury's outlets, but payments were only possible in designated areas.
Self-service checkouts and manual checkouts will still be available at the Clapham store, for customers who prefer to pay at the till.
Convenient Shopping Experience
Sainsbury’s group chief digital officer, Clodagh Moriarty, said that the new feature will make transactions faster and allow customers to avoid the checkout completely.
“Technology and changing customer shopping habits have transformed the way people buy their groceries. Our teams are constantly working hard to bring new, convenient shopping experiences to customers, and we’re delighted to be the first grocery retailer in the UK to offer customers the ability to shop checkout-free,” Moriarty added.
The SmartShop app is growing in popularity with Sainsbury’s customers. It has aggregated over 100,000 transactions per week, with almost 3,000 and 4,000 new customer registrations.
In-store contactless payments are expected to reach $2 trillion by 2020 and will count for one in three in-store transactions.
In January 2018, Amazon opened a checkout-free grocery store in Seattle. In the same month, Tesco announced that it was testing checkout-free payments at its convenience store at Welwyn Garden City, north of London.
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Dayeeta Das. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.