The German distributor tests in the English capital a new fully automated store concept, without a cash register but where the entrance is billed more than 11 euros.
In Greenwich, in southeast London, an Aldi like no other recently opened. called Aldi Shop & Go, this store is testing automated purchasing technology, without a cash register and supposed to streamline the store experience by avoiding the queue at the end of the shopping. But a detail particularly surprises customers: entry costs 10 pounds, or 11.73 euros.
This amount is not a tax per se. It is reimbursed if the customer makes no purchase and is deducted from the invoice if he fills his basket. For those whose receipt is less than 10 pounds, the difference is recredited within two days, promises the brand. But to access this automated experience, several conditions are necessary: having a smartphone, having downloaded the dedicated application, having connected your account, having battery … and trust this unique system.
At the entrance, terminals are installed. Just scan your phone or bank card linked to your Aldi account. Inside, no cash or staff in charge of collection. But, instead, cameras and sensors detect the selected products, automatically add them to the virtual basket, then trigger payment via the application or card at the exit of the store. “Our very first Shop & Go store uses advanced technology so that you can make your shopping faster and more easily without queuing”explains Aldi on his site.
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The question of accessibility
This device aims to reduce queues and flights, while accelerating payment. Aldi explains to put this in place “To speed up the final payment process and as a method of improving security”. Making 10 pounds paying at the entrance makes it possible to ensure that each customer has a valid means of payment, and to ensure that the amount of the races will be directly deducted from the associated bank account. But this technology raises reflections. Should we now pay to have the right, possible, to consume? The model particularly questions the question of accessibility. The elderly, customers little comfortable with digital tools, or those without compatible smartphone may be excluded.
This is not the first supermarket attempt without a cash register. Aldi also experiences another technology called Aldo in Chicago, the United States, in partnership with the Grabango company. Again, customers can avoid the cashier by validating their purchases on a terminal or via the application. Grabango claims to use “Computer vision to identify and follow each article in the store”. It remains to be seen whether this promise will last over time. But some brands have failed to convince. The American giant Amazon, with its concept Just Walk Out on the same principle, had to backtrack. According to the media The Information, around 700 sales out of 1000 required human intervention to correct any errors. What to put into perspective the effectiveness of these systems presented as revolutionary.
