Skipping the Queue with Scan & Go

Mobile self-checkout is a means to not only improve the convenience of the shopping trip, but to reduce the time customers have to spend in brick & mortar stores to the necessary minimum. With a Scan & Go app in place, queuing quickly becomes a thing of the past.

On your way home from work, you realise you need to pick up some bread and milk. The supermarket is filled with the late-afternoon crowd and after navigating the store to find your items you get stuck in a long queue, waiting behind people with a whole trolley full of food while you carry your bread and milk in your hand. Still, you have to wait (im)patiently until every item before yours is scanned and paid for at the till. Sound familiar?

Long lines at the checkout desk are an all too common problem for customers and retailers alike and are among the most frustrating aspects of shopping in retail stores. Apart from a lot of time invested on both sides – the shoppers waiting their turn and the staff stuck at the busy register – queues come with plenty of inconvenient side effects. Not only may customers change their mind when seeing a long waiting line, but the need for employees is higher in order to manage checkout queues while still offering good customer service and promptly re-stocking goods. 

A solution that not only eliminates waiting lines all together, but also clears time for the staff and space at the checkout area, is a Scan & Go app. When customers can not only scan their own items but also pay for them on their own mobile devices, the time saving factor alone makes implementing a Scan & Go app into the retail strategy worthwhile. 

Moreover, this technology allows for a true phygital experience, combining the best traits of efficient online shopping and the hands-on experience at a retail store.