Lidl is reportedly set to trial a new “scan as you shop” service in one of its stores to speed up the checkout process.
The scheme would see customers use a new app to scan products with their phone while they shop, instead of having to take everything at the tills.
However, details reported by The Grocer suggest shoppers would still need to go to the checkout to pay for their goods.
Customers would be given a barcode through the app at the end of their shop, which you’d need to show at the tills to pay.
Other supermarkets have similar schemes in place like Tesco and M&S but these both allow you to pay for your shop through an app or device without going to the checkouts.
The Grocer reports how Lidl will run its "scan as you shop" service through a new app called Lidl Go.
The Lidl Go app would be separate from the existing Lidl Plus loyalty app, but it is thought shoppers would be able to sync their Lidl Plus account to Lidl Go.
Lidl Go was apparently available to download this week through the Google Play store but has since been removed by the supermarket chain.
The terms and conditions page for the app have also since been pulled from the Lidl website.
Lidl separately told The Mirror that it is too soon to provide more details about how "scan as you shop" could work, or even if a trial will definitely still go ahead.
The terms and conditions page reportedly said: “The app allows users to ‘self-scan’ items while shopping in selected Lidl stores and then to pay for them at the checkout using the barcode generated by the app.”
Details on its website also apparently listed the service as being available in its Fulwell store in south west London.
It isn't clear if other shops would be part of a future trial.
In more supermarket news, Lidl was just narrowly beaten by Aldi in the latest price comparison by consumer group Which?.
Aldi was named the cheaper supermarket in the UK after the research found a typical basket of shopping costs £21.61.
But if you live closer to a Lidl, don't worry - it's only 20p more expensive, at £21.81.
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Oh dear, just finished writing a reply about my experiences with a handheld scanner but it came up with "technical issues" and lost my message. Darn!
When I go to Asda with my grandson (Asda is his favourite store as it has a 'tech' department) we use the scan and go handset. In all the times we have used it, not one time has it all gone without a hitch.
Sometimes I have to ask for help because it won't scan properly at the checkout, once it just froze and I had to hand it back and use the ordinary checkout but on Wednesday it was the last straw.
I scanned it at the checkout and there was a message saying I had been selected for a quality control. I waited a bit for someone to come and after a minute or so called an assistant over. She took the handset to the desk and was talking through a headphone. About five minutes later she came back and said she was just finding someone. Every five minutes or so she came back and said she wouldn't be a minute. This happened a few times, I ended up sitting on the tray at the checkout. Eventually she decided she couldn't help and told me to checkout as normal. I had been about half an hour waiting by this time.
I wish she had just told me to do that in the first place. I went off shouting that I would never be coming back to the store after whispering to my grandson that I wasn't really mad and I was just acting.
John was mad when I got back to the car, telling me how many people had been in and out of Asda while he had been waiting so it wasn't a good experience at all.
I hope the Lidl ones work better if they ever come out.
I won't be using this method of shopping. I shop on-line but never use my mobile to buy anything at all.
It's probably a way of reducing staff. Wide open to fraud.
The big question is FRAUD.
It was reported that fraud accounted for 10% of the total amount paid for Shop and Scan. If someone had 20 items in the basket, there was a 60% chance that there was an un-scanned item.
For Lidl (and Aldi) who work on very tight margins, this might be unacceptable.
One way round this is to 'randomly' select a shopper and un-bag their items to put through the checkout. This of course would increase checkout time.
Probably a good idea for a trial, but in the end, will almost certainly be dropped.
There is also the issue of over 18 products such as alcohol, knives etc. Difficult.
No good for me as i only have my good old trusted push button mobile with no internet connection and that is how it is going to stay