Sainsbury’s Local opened the United Kingdom’s first cashierless store, a scan-and-pay convenience store located in London.
Customers can use the supermarket’s SmartShop, Scan, Pay & Go smartphone app to scan their groceries, pay in the app and scan a QR code before they leave.
The tills have been completely removed from the store and will operate without them for the next three months as an experiment, according to Internet Retailing.
By removing the tills, the company said, staff are freed up to spend their time helping customers and keeping shelves stocked. There will also be a helpdesk for those who prefer to pay by cash or card. The company said 82% of transactions in this store are already cashless.
“We know our customers value their time and many want to shop as quickly as possible — technology is key to that,” said Clodagh Moriarty, Sainsbury’s Group chief digital officer. “This is an experiment rather than a new format for us. It hasn’t been done in the U.K. before, and we’re really excited to understand how our customers respond to the app experience. We’ll be with our customers and colleagues all the way over the coming months, iterating continuously based on their feedback before we decide if, how and where we make this experience more widely available.”
Sainsbury’s sister company Argos launched its first self-service store, also in London. Customers can browse and pay for an item via in-store tablets before picking up their order at a new type of collection pod.
Sainsbury’s Argos said customers shopping on smartphones and tablets now account for more than 70% of all Argos online sales.
