Tesco opens its first checkout-free retailer
PICTURE SOURCE: BEN STEVENS / PARSONS MEDIA
The UK’s largest retailer said its High Holborn store has been remodeled so customers can shop and pay without scanning a product or using a checkout counter. The new till-free format, known as GetGo, follows similar stores opened by Amazon.
Customers with the Tesco.com app can pick up the groceries they need and leave immediately.
Tesco said “a combination of cameras and weight sensors” would determine what customers picked up and bill them for products directly through the app when they leave the store.
The technology is provided by the Israeli tech start-up Trigo, which has similar partnerships with supermarkets in Germany and the Netherlands. Some Tesco employees have been able to use the system in the store at the Welwyn Garden City headquarters, but this is the first time it has been available to regular customers.
Kevin Tindall, Managing Director of Tesco Convenience, said, “Our latest innovation gives customers a seamless checkout on the go and helps them save a little more time.
“This is just a trial in a store right now, but we’re excited to see how our customers react.”
Tesco isn’t the only UK supermarket experimenting with checkout-free technology. Richard Lim, chief executive of retail analyst group Retail Economics, said Tesco’s move “reflects the development of the broader industry.”
Amazon Fresh now has three “just walk out” stores in London after the technology was introduced in the US city of Seattle in 2018, for example.
“An important element of this for Tesco is also extracting data and trying to improve what it offers to its customers as much as possible,” added Mr. Lim. The company’s Clubcard program already has 6.6 million users on its app, so the retailer is “way ahead of the curve” when it comes to using information about what a customer is buying or how they’re shopping to add to their experience to personalize, said Lim.
