Yahoo Finance More Woolworths stores let you ‘scan and go’ to skip the check-out queue
Woolworths has announced it is rolling out ‘Scan&Go’ across four more Sydney CBD locations, meaning busy shoppers can skip long check-out queues.
Woolworths’ Scan&Go app allows customers to speed up their shopping by scanning the barcodes of products with the app on their smartphone while they shop in-store and ‘tapping off’ at a dedicated kiosk in the self-serve area to pay.
Sydney’s CBD shoppers who frequent Pitt Street, MetCentre, George Street, or York Street Woolworths will be able to use the service, with the supermarket giant now offering Scan&Go at these locations.
The roll-out across these four locations comes after a 10-month trial at Woolworths Double Bay, as well as Woolworths Mona Vale, which kicked off Scan&Go last week.
The Scan&Go app is available in the App and Google Play stores. However, app users have to be Woolworths Rewards members, and will have to key in the details of their credit or debit card in the app before shopping.
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Woolworths group head of payments and financial services Paul Monnington said customers wanted shopping to become even more convenient to suit their busy lifestyles.
“Most customers in our CBD Metro stores just want to duck in and out for a few items, so we expect the speed and ease of Scan&Go will be quite a popular offer in this setting,” Monnington said.
“We’ve also taken the opportunity to trial Scan&Go at Mona Vale following the renewal of the supermarket.
“This will allow us to test the app with even more customers in a different setting, so we can determine the best role for it in the future."
At the end of May, 7-Eleven rolled out ‘scan and go’ technology in inner-city Melbourne store, Richmond, which has no physical counter.
Won’t people just steal items from the store?
Speaking to Yahoo Finance, a Woolworths spokesperson said the 10-month trial at Double Bay had shown theft had not been an issue.
“We find most people do the right thing and we build products with them top of mind,” the spokesperson said.
“As you would expect, we have a range of checks and balances built into the process.”
To complement Scan&Go, Woolworths will have dedicated staff that will perform random checks on customers to mitigate theft.
“We’ve conducted regular random scan checks at Double Bay and found the vast majority of shops are scanned accurately by customers.”
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