The new checkout plan to change the way you shop at Woolworths
From Thursday, Woolworths in Double Bay will be the first major supermarket in Australia to give customers a mobile shopping option.
The supermarket is offering Woolworths Rewards members the chance to trial its Scan&Go app, which allows customers to scan items as they shop then pay using the app, which is linked to their credit card and Woolworths Rewards loyalty membership.
A Woolworths store in Sydney’s east will be the first to trial a new “shop-and-go” system that allows customers to bypass traditional checkouts.
They can then “tap off” at a dedicated Scan&Go checkout, avoiding long queues.
“Our customers lead increasingly busy lives and want us to explore new and innovative ways to make their shopping experience more convenient,” Woolworths Group Head of Payments Paul Monnington said.
“We believe smartphone technology and mobile payments have the potential to transform the shopping experience for our customers in the future.
“This trial is not only about testing new technology, it’s also about seeing how our customers and teams respond to a completely new style of shopping.”
The Double Bay store will continue to offer self-serve check-outs and manned registers throughout the trial, which will last several months.
There are no immediate plans to roll the Scan&Go service out beyond the trial in Double Bay, a Woolworths spokesperson told Yahoo7.
The Woolworths trial follows a similar system rolled out by Amazon in the US, with Amazon Go launching in Seattle in January.
Amazon Go relies on cameras and sensors to track what shoppers remove from the shelves and what they put back.
To start shopping, customers must scan an Amazon Go smartphone app and pass through a gated turnstile.
Cash registers and checkout lines become superfluous because customers are billed after leaving the store using credit cards on file.
– With Reuters
