Sainsbury's trials till-free shopping

Supermarket chain Sainsbury’s trialing till-free shopping, allowing its customers to scan and pay in an app for groceries in-store.

The new scan, pay and go technology, marks the first for a UK supermarket, and will allow shoppers in one of its busy London convenience stores to pay for products in-store using their smartphone.

The new technology gives shoppers the option to grab their groceries and skip the checkout completely, as they can pay through the app using Apple Pay.

Customers can already use SmartShop in 68 Sainsbury’s supermarkets, however, the scan, pay and go trial in Clapham will take this technology “to the next level” said Sainsbury’s. Instead of paying for your shopping at a designated till point, Clapham customers can pay for their basket even faster and from anywhere in the store.

SmartShop is growing in popularity with Sainsbury’s customers, currently, there are over 100,000 SmartShop transactions and between 3,000 and 4,000 new customer registrations every week.

With in-store contactless payments predicted to reach 2 trillion dollars by 2020, counting for 1 in 3 in-store transactions, the trial will offer customers another way to pay conveniently in-store, added the supermarket chain.

Sainsbury’s group chief digital officer Clodagh Moriarty said in a press release: “Technology and changing customer shopping habits have transformed the way people buy their groceries. Our teams are constantly working hard to bring new convenient shopping experiences to customers and we’re delighted to be the first grocery retailer in the UK to offer customers the ability to shop checkout-free. The latest version of SmartShop, with its new payment feature, will make it super quick for customers to get in and out of the store for those that want to scan, pay and go.”

In addition to paying in the SmartShop app, the Sainsbury’s store in Clapham will also have both self-serve checkouts and manned checkouts, for customers who might prefer to pay at a till, and the supermarket will be using customer feedback from the trial to develop and improve the experience before testing the technology in different store types and locations to learn more over the coming months.

Image: courtesy of Sainsbury's