Tesco PLC (LSE:TSCO) is trialling scan-free shopping at a London store, with customers able to walk in, pick up their shopping and pay without having to worry about barcodes or apps.
Shoppers at Tesco’s Fulham Reach GetGo store will now be able to get their weekly shopping armed with only a bank card and carrier bag.
GetGo stores are experimental versions of Tesco shops where customers use a QR code to enter the store and are then tracked while doing their shopping so that when they go to pay, all the items have already been accounted for.
These stores use a technique where cameras track a customer and, with the help of shelves that are weighed, work out what items have been selected before compiling it into a receipt for checkout.
However, Tesco’s latest innovation means shoppers no longer need to scan in before entering. Instead, the cameras will start following you shopping from the moment you enter.
Tesco currently has four GetGo stores in operation in the UK, three of which are in London, including the Fulham Reach site - the fourth is at Ashton University in Birmingham.
Sites in High Holborn and Chiswell Street in London also use the technology.
Fulham Reach will be the first public store to trial this innovation, with Tesco having experimented with the service in 2019 at its Welwyn Garden City headquarters.
Tesco head of store customer experience Sarah Quiggin said: “We are constantly searching for the perfect formula to make the shopping trip as seamless and convenient as possible.
“We will be watching closely to see how customers react to this potential new option of having a list of their shopping presented to them automatically.”