7-Eleven opens its first cashless and cardless store in Australia — and apparently you'll be able to checkout in seconds via its app
7-Eleven has opened a new store at 2/658 Church Street, Richmond, in inner-city Melbourne.
The store has no physical counter and customers will scan items and transact for goods via the 7-Eleven app on their smartphone, linked to a credit or debit card.
7-Eleven CEO Angus McKay said the launch is part of the chain's goal to "push the notion of convenience to its absolute limit".
Convenience chain 7-Eleven has opened its first "cashless and cardless" store in Australia.
The store, which officially launches in Richmond in inner-city Melbourne on Wednesday, has no physical counter and customers will shop by choosing physical items from the shelves, scanning the barcode and transacting via the 7-Eleven app linked to a debit or credit card.
7-Eleven launches Australia’s first cashless and cardless convenience store in Melbourne’s inner suburb of Richmond where customers use their smartphones to complete their transactions. https://t.co/AH8jNCtwjU pic.twitter.com/szMtsszQG9
— 7-Eleven Australia (@7ElevenAus) May 29, 2019
A statement from 7-Eleven said the convenience store estimates checkout time for a customer could be a matter of "seconds" and is part of a push to create a "frictionless" consumer experience.
"Nobody likes to wait, so eliminating queues was part of the mission for this mobile checkout," 7-Eleven CEO Angus McKay said in the statement. "We're trying to push the notion of 'convenience' to its absolute limit."
The launch follows a trial at Melbourne's Exhibition Street store, where the app was tested alongside a traditional point of sale system before getting the green light.
7-Eleven employees will be redeployed into customer service roles to "focus on greeting and assisting customers and on delivering the brand's growing food offer", the statement said.
The move is the latest indication of the retail sector moving towards a cashless future.
In December 2018, Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Philip Lowe said Australia was at a "turning point" and cash was set to become a "niche payment".
UNSW economics professor Richard Holden told The Sydney Morning Herald at that time that Australia could be cash-free in just three years.