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Aldi opens its first checkout-free supermarket
If the trial is successful, more of the checkout-free stores will start opening across the UK
Aldi has opened its first check-out free supermarket where people can shop without having to scan a product.
Yep, an Aldi without stress-inducing checkout speeds.
The budget supermarket is trialling the futuristic concept in a store in Greenwich, London, where customers download the Aldi Shop&Go app to be automatically charged for their items.
The concept is achieved through a series of hi-tech cameras that track customers as they do their shopping – their final bills will be sent via the app as they leave the store.
Aldi’s new site will also allow customers to buy alcohol, using facial-age estimation technology to check whether they appear to be over the age of twenty-five.
Aldi
Though if you’re wanting to feel young again, you can still choose to have you age verified by a member of staff.
Giles Hurley, CEO of Aldi UK and Ireland, said: “Today is the culmination of months of work, not least from the team here in Greenwich and I’m looking forward to seeing how customers react to our trial.
“This store utilises the very latest in retail technology offering Aldi’s award-winning products and unbeatable prices to customers in a new and innovative way.
“The team are really excited about seeing customers come in and experience Aldi Shop&Go.”
Lewis Esparon, Greenwich store manager, added: “We have been working towards this day for several months now so it will be great to see how our customers react to the new technology.
Aldi
“For us, steps like this are always about improving the customer experience and the whole team are looking forward to being on-hand and ready to help to ensure that experience is as smooth as ever.”
Online retailer Amazon was the first to inspire the ‘grab and go’ shopping phenomenon in Seattle, USA, when it opened the first ever checkout-free store in 2018.
Retail experts have been hailing till-free shopping as ‘the future of retail’, with expert and founder of NBK Retail Natalie Berg telling the BBC: “Retailers are in a race to offer the most frictionless in-store experience – in retail ‘no touch’ has become the new normal.
“Amazon was the main catalyst for this trend and the pandemic has really accelerated this.”