Sainsbury’s is testing an app which enables customers to bypass the checkout by scanning and paying for their items using their mobile phone, echoing Amazon Go’s checkout-free concept.
Still in development mode, the app is being tested at Sainsbury’s London Euston Station store with customers who are purchasing its £3 ‘On the Go’ meal deal, which consists of a sandwich or salad, side and a drink.
Customers download the app to their mobile phone and scan their three items, before paying within the app itself. Once they have made the payment, they are free to walk out of the store.
The development follows the launch of the app-based checkout-free Amazon Go in Seattle, US, at the end of last year.
Sainsbury’s said its new pilot was one of the ways it was using technology to save customers time. Its SmartShop service, in which customers scan their items using a handset or their mobile phone as they are doing their shop and pay at a SmartShop dedicated checkout, will be in up to 50 stores by the end of the year.
In addition, Sainsbury’s last year began its trial of Chop Chop, a one-hour delivery service from two London stores.
Sainsbury’s head of customer experience, Natalie Dunn, said: “We are always looking for new ways to help our customers live well – and saving customers time is one way we can do so.
“Experimenting with a checkout-free experience is a first for Sainsbury’s and for many of our customers, so we are keen to understand how we can take the concept and develop an offering that is a genuinely useful for those who shop with us. We may be some way off from rolling this out – but we’re excited to have taken the first step.”
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