For the past 12 months Woollies has slowly been rolling out trials of it’s contactless Scan & Go checkout system across stores in Sydney and Melbourne.
A couple of days ago I noticed my local store had installed a smart gate in-between some registers with Scan&Go branding, so when I got home I downloaded the app in anticipation of being able to use it soon.
Today was that day!
Popping in to pick up some bread I noticed the Scan&Go gate was no longer taped off so I whipped out my phone like a quick draw pistol in a western and scanned my bread rolls. It was that easy! Obviously I now needed to try it on other things that I’ll get in trouble for when I get home.
Tim Tams, scanned, in my bag,
Pizza pockets scanned in my bag,
As I was heading back to the front of the store I paid for my shopping in the app, it then generated a QR code on screen.
To exit the store simply scan the QR code at the smart gate and walk out!
What about items that don’t have a barcode like fresh produce?
You scan the item barcode on the price label then weigh them on the scales in the produce section, there will be a barcode onscreen of the scales, scan that with your phone.
The app is linked to your Woolworths Rewards account and you’ll need Bluetooth and location services on to be able to use it. At least this means all the tin foil hat wearing hermits who won’t download COVIDSafe won’t be hogging the smart gate.
In our current climate of keeping a distance from others, this Scan&Go system is perfect, keeping yourself, staff, and other shoppers all clear of your shopping experience.
We’ve seen tech like this popping up all over the world and it will be the future of supermarket shopping.
A full list of stores can be found here.
Obviously this process works best when paired with an EFTM backpack.
