The idea of Scan & Go is appealing, but this devil is certainly in the details. This solution needs to work nearly flawlessly to be viable and, the article shows, the technology and processes are nowhere near ready yet. Shoppers are willing to perform the cashier’s job in order to avoid standing in line, but they have to be positive that they will have a successful checkout experience.

I love the concept, however user error and theft keep popping into my head. I almost prefer the idea of an RFID-like technology that detects the products in the basket and so will adjust itself when items are taken out and exchanged for something else.

But that’s just my 2 cents.

I’ve been using Scan Bag Go at Stop and Shop without a hitch for years. It is a little clunky once you get to checkout and the syncing of your purchases to POS seems slow but I’ve never had it freeze up. I think using your app on a phone is a no-brainer for consumers but I’m not sure for grocers. I think shrink would be an issue. In self-checkout you have a controlled environment with the scanning. With app-based pay and go I’m not sure what is preventing fraud.

Mobile scan and go remains the holy grail of in person shopping. It’s the perfect data and marketing opportunity married with a real convenience — not waiting in line. This is the first time consumer phones have had good enough cameras and fast enough processors for easy scanning and it’s the beginning of a major retail disruption as it adapts to the age of the smartphone.

While I’m sure this will appeal to some shoppers — it would be nice to see a (even a crude) survey to know how many, wouldn’t it? Finance people like me are going to worry about the practicalities: how many people are going to fail to scan things — either accidentally or deliberately, how many are going to do just the opposite (return things they already scanned) and then complain loudly on social media they were overcharged, what happens when items don’t scan, etc.?

The reality is, only a small percentage of people seem to use the self-check, the one time saving technology open to them now … this is an even bigger step.

The only thing holding this technology back is retailers. It’s a natural extension for consumers to scan via mobile while shopping, and I think the benefits of increased satisfaction, loyalty, engagement, etc. far outweigh the potential downsides. With pilots, rollouts and continued development the process and technology will of course improve over time — just as we saw with self-checkout years ago.

It’s a 10 out of 10. The market moves towards economies and this is a no-brainer. Retailers are the LAST to invest in anything they perceive as going against the bottom line.

Soon it will be a table stake and few will get the first-mover advantage. Shrinkage and compatibility are temporary issues. Oh, and forget proprietary scanners. It’s got to work on smartphones.

This may appeal to certain types of shoppers, but getting the execution will be tricky. A few potential problems that immediately spring to mind are tech failure, user error, and theft. I’m also wondering if this is actually any more efficient than self-checkout for the customer. I do see the app as a great data collection and marketing opportunity for the retailer though, as William Hogben mentioned.

Working flawlessly at Sam’s Club near our headquarters. It has converted many of our employees into Sam’s Club loyalists. Line-skipping is a very powerful and addicting shopping experience. The trick is for retailers (including Sam’s) to repurpose the vanishing cashiers to the sales floor.