Asda lets shoppers use their own mobile phone checkout

Mobile phone checkout - ASDA grocery store

As grocery stores seek new ways to keep a contact-free experience the chain is skipping cash registers.

UK grocery store chain, Asda, has rolled out a new option allowing shoppers to use a mobile phone checkout app and skip the lines at the checkout counters.

The supermarket brand’s “scan and go mobile” option is now available in all 581 store locations.

Previously, Asda had made the mobile phone checkout option available at about half of its locations. That said, it has now rolled it out across every grocery store. To use this option, shoppers must download the store’s official app onto their phone. They can add payment card details so that they will be able to fully check out once they are done adding to their carts. From there, they can simply scan the barcode on each item they put into their cart, as they add it.

As they move through the store, adding items to their carts, they also scan their items. In this way, by the time they’re ready to leave, they’ll already have scanned everything and will be ready to check out. They can pack the items themselves as they go. This skips the step of needing to unload the cart onto the checkout counter, only to have to repack the groceries once they’ve all been scanned there.

Though this promotes social distancing, Asda said it also helps shoppers to watch their spending.

The reason is that many people don’t keep an accurate tally of their groceries as they add them to the cart. It’s not until they arrive at the checkout counter that they discover how much they’ll have spent in total. By tallying the running total as the customer shops, it’s easier to keep an eye on spending and stick to a budget.

At the same time, this mobile phone checkout strategy is also a timely one for anyone who is hoping to skip the long lines and adhere to social distancing recommendations. In this way, there isn’t any need to line up at the end of the grocery shopping experience. Moreover, a cashier doesn’t need to touch every Mobile phone checkout - ASDA grocery storefood item to scan it, and payment is made through the phone, meaning that there isn’t any contact or interaction required with payment terminals.

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