Sainsbury’s has been hitting the headlines this week as shoppers were left feeling ‘deeply resentful’ over a change to self-service checkouts.
The retailer has installed AI cameras on the tills, which record shoppers and playback video clips when an item is scanned incorrectly. Customers receive a warning before the footage is shown, stating: ‘It looks like that last item didn’t scan. Please check you scanned it correctly before continuing.’
On social media people branded it a ‘big brother tactic’ and said the might even ‘boycott’ the supermarket – but the latest supermarket update might mean you don’t need to take such drastic measures.
That’s because Sainsbury’s is trialling a service in some of its stores which means you wouldn’t even need to use the self-service checkouts during your visit – or any till at all for that matter.
That’s because customers who use the scan and shop handsets are being allowed to pay on the SmartShop devices for the very first time.
However, this method of payment is only available in two supermarkets currently – one in Richmond and one in Kempton.
According to the company, this payment method is being trialled in order to ‘reduce friction’, while the new self-service checkout cameras are intended to deal with shoplifting.
So how does it work?
After using the handset to scan items as you shop, you simply tap your card on the device at the end when you’re done.
Once the payment has been received, shoppers who want a physical receipt can print one out a checkout or have a copy emailed to them, before returning the device to a SmartShop port and leaving the store.
While some might be surprised by this change, it won’t come as a shock to those who regularly use SmartShop and have the app as customers have been able to pay for their groceries in the app since 2022.
But Sainsbury’s future stores director Darren Sinclair told The Grocer that some shoppers prefer to use the handsets so they can save their phone battery.
He said: ‘It’s a bit more ergonomic. I think about this as trying to reduce friction, improve payment and simplify the shopping journey, as well as the future potential space.’
He also believes this will encourage more people to use SmartShop, but does admit that it’s still early days for the trial and some improvements are needed to make it more ‘user-friendly’. For examples, the devices currently don’t accept colleague discounts and you’re not able to swipe a physical Nectar card on them.
It also won’t be a completely seamless process for those hoping to avoid checkout staff, as some will still have to occasionally check the contents of a customer’s basket, to ensure the contents have been scanned correctly and there’s no theft occurring.
Darren added: ‘We’re a long way away – it’s all about what customers think. We’re going to take our time.’
What do shoppers really think of checkout-less shopping at Sainsbury’s?
Metro’s Courtney Pochin headed down to Sainsbury’s in Richmond to give the new service a go and while she’s a big fan of how much quicker and easier the SmartShop handsets making shopping in general, paying on the handset initially felt a little ‘jarring’.
‘I think some people will really love this change, especially those who are more introverted and don’t really want to have to talk to anyone while out shopping or if they’re in a rush. It also is great not to have to unpack your trolley or basket at the till and repack it all after paying,’ she said.
‘However, something about the payment experience felt a little jarring to me. It’s probably just that it’s new and different, but in the moment it didn’t feel right. I felt like I wasn’t really done with my shop as I hadn’t been to the till and followed the usual process.’
She added: ‘As with any change or update, I’m sure if it becomes the norm, I won’t think twice about paying this way in future though.
‘The only thing I can see being a point of contention for now is the need to still go to the checkout to get a physical copy of a receipt. For those that require a printed one for whatever reason, it does make it feel like you might as well have just paid at the till in the first place. But if you’re happy with an email copy, this won’t be an issue.
‘The random basket checks are also going to slow things down if your handset is selected for this. I completely understand why they do it, but again it does feel like it defeats the point of it as it’s meant to be speedier and checkout-free.’
And Sainsbury’s isn’t the only retailer making a big checkout change like this of late, one shop has decided to go in completely the opposite direction.
Family-owned grocer Booths has recently embarked on a mission to remove self-checkout tills from the majority of its 26 stores.
According to its director, this move has led to a rise in customer satisfaction, a reduction in theft, less shrinkage, and other benefits.
Booths removed self-service checkouts in all but two of their busiest stores in a move they originally hoped would cut costs and speed up the time it took to serve their customers, who were expressing frustration at the self-service tills.
MD Nigel Murray said: ‘In really simple terms, if you’ve got somebody who is doing a job repetitively for six, seven, eight hours a day, they are going to do it faster and better than if you are just turning up to do it once every three days. So, in terms of speed of service we made sure we invested in having people at the tills to serve customers, and the results are clear.’
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