Aldi is revamping its Shop & Go store in London, including adding self-checkouts.
The changes at the store in Greenwich are due to be unveiled tomorrow, 20 August, when it reopens after closing on 4 August for the upgrades.
As before, AI cameras around the store will track what customers take from shelves and tally up the bill, so there is no need for items to be scanned – unless shoppers opt to at one of the new self-checkouts.
Shoppers will also no longer be required to tap a payment card or scan a QR code in the Shop & Go app at a turnstile to enter the store.
Those not using a self-checkout can tap or scan to pay in a new ‘fast lane’ as they exit.
“Ready to leave? Just scan your app QR code or tap your card on our fast lane to exit the store,” a new tutorial in the app says. “We’ll inform you when the receipt is ready.
“You can also scan your app QR code or tap your payment card at out self-checkouts to leave. No need to scan your items yourself.”
Previously, tapping or scanning at an entrance turnstile resulted in a £10 ‘pre-authorisation’ payment being taken from a shopper’s payment card. The charge acted as a deposit towards the full cost of a shop, with the remainder automatically deducted when they left. But those who didn’t spend £10 in the store would have to wait up to a week for it be refunded to their payment card balance.
Despite moving the turnstiles to the fast lane at the exit, Aldi will still charge everyone using them a minimum £10, and then refund the difference if the cost of their shop is less. It is understood this is because the technology takes longer to reliably establish a customer has picked up less than £10-worth of shopping.
Aldi did not provide a comment.
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Aldi’s changes ape one by Amazon, which has been allowing shoppers to tap or scan when leaving its Fresh stores, rather than before entering, since 2023. Amazon also began adding self-checkouts in selected stores in 2024.
Aldi launched its Shop & Go store in January 2022, at a time when expectations were high that ‘just walk out’ shopping could take off. Two months earlier, Amazon had announced a plan to have 260 Fresh stores in the UK by 2025, and Tesco and Sainsbury’s were also trialling their versions.
However, the technology has not gained traction at scale. Amazon began closing Fresh stores in January 2023 and currently has only 19.
Sainsbury’s removed just walk out tech from its Holborn store in February this year, having customers instead pay at a kiosk with a till or a self-checkout.
Tesco opened its first GetGo store, also in Holborn, in 2021, and now has three in London and one in Birmingham. Customers can use the GetGo app to ‘bag as you shop’ or pay at a self-checkout.
In April 2023, Aldi UK & Ireland CEO Giles Hurley told The Grocer there were no plans for more Shop & Go stores and the discounter saw the rollout of self-checkouts across its estate as the “right next step”.
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