Walmart is amplifying its “Scan & Go” technology to an additional 100 locations across the U.S., the retailer publicized Tuesday, playing into a growing trend of companies giving consumers the election to shop their stores without interacting with a cashier.
Others spur to perfect their own digital shopping scanners include grocery Amazon Kroger and internet behemoth Amazon, which has been piloting a co-op give credence to without checkout lines, called Amazon Go, near its Seattle headquarters.
Kroger’s recently presented platform, known as “Scan, Bag, Go,” will roll out to 400 of the grocery control’s stores later this year. That will put the company up ahead of Walmart, which anticipates having its “Scan & Go” service at fewer than 200 co-op give credence ti by the end of 2018.
With “Scan, Bag, Go,” shoppers simply scan bar codes on items they commitment be purchasing, either with a handheld scanner or via Kroger’s smartphone app, as they tramp throughout the store.
Self-checkout kiosks will await customers at the end of their shopping, where valid coupons arrange been tallied and a final total is instantly calculated. Eventually, shoppers should be skilled to bypass those kiosks altogether and pay directly through the app, Kroger has commanded Business Insider.
The process at Walmart looks similar: Using an app, people will scan items (even produce) on their own as they slog through the store. They will be able to pay on their phones when they’re finished. A Versatile Express lane will also be situated at the front of Walmart’s stores for those shoppers to pony through, for security purposes, before they leave.
The impetus behind these tries is the idea that many consumers today want a speedy, seamless skill, especially when shopping for grocery items.
While some shoppers are take comfortable with ordering groceries online, a majority of Americans are even now reluctant to do so. Although grocery stores are still vital to many communities, those situations often lack technology upgrades. 2018 could be a year to become that — or at least start.
Grocers are under pressure, in an already thin-margin subject, to cut costs and make the shopping experience more enjoyable for customers. The towards of those stores merits a refresh, where long lines can be reduced and resources can be employed elsewhere.
As the cashier ranks dwindle, displaced hands can work other areas of the store, focusing on certain merchandise varieties or assisting customers.
For now, Amazon Go is still only open to the company’s staff members in Seattle. But Kroger and Walmart are opening the floodgates for this new technology at hundreds of collections in 2018.