Tesco is trialling new tech which means customers don’t have to scan items at self service tills.
Customers at Tesco’s Fulham Reach Express GetGo store can now take items from shelves and “just walk up” to the checkout which will “magically present them with a list of the products they have picked up”.
Customers then check the list presented and “pay in the usual way”. The process is similar to using the GetGo checkout-free feature of Tesco’s app – but there is “no need to download or use” the app, and the receipt is provided immediately, rather than digitally a few minutes after leaving the store.
“We are constantly searching for the perfect formula to make the shopping trip as seamless and convenient as possible,” said Sarah Quiggin, Tesco head of store customer experience. “This trial of scan-free checkouts will add another option for customers in Fulham Reach to save time on scanning items and will reduce queuing in store.”
The technology has been on trial by staff at Tesco Welwyn Garden City headquarters, but this marks its first public launch.
“We will be watching closely to see how customers react to this potential new option of having a list of their shopping presented to them automatically,” Quiggin added.
The tech – developed with partner Trigo, in which Tesco announced an equity investment in 2019 – is one of a “range of checkout solutions available to customers to make their shopping experience easier”, the supermarket said.
Tesco launched its first public GetGo store in High Holborn in October 2021. GetGo stores are fitted with cameras on the ceiling and on-shelf weight sensors that monitor customer movements and product picks. The High Holborn store initially offered “a purely checkout-free model” but has since been made “hybrid”, offering customers the option to use an attended checkout.
GetGo stores since – Fulham Reach and Chiswell St in London and Aston University in Birmingham – have all offered both checkout-free and attended till options.
Several supermarkets have launched checkout-free stores, and are working to make the customer experience as seamless as possible.
Amazon Fresh ‘Just Walk Out’ stores have been launched with barriers on entry to the store, where customers must scan their Amazon app to start shopping. Newer stores, including the Notting Hill Gate Amazon Fresh store opening at the end of this month, do away with the entry barriers, with gates on exit.
Earlier this year, Amazon added a card payment option to several Fresh stores, but customers must go to a website to look up their receipt.
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