This is still a foreign concept for many shoppers. Checkout apps need to be standardized, not customized, for them to work. Until there is a standardized app for everyone to use anywhere, individualized apps for each store will only add to the confusion. This concept needs a Facebook or Twitter app that everyone uses, not commercialized apps for every location. Until this happens, these apps will not make the cut and consumers will continue to be confused.

It’s all about reducing or eliminating friction. The less cognitive effort a shopper has to go through to find this app, download and install it, launch it and process a payment, the likelier it will catch on.

Similar efforts have often been hampered by placing the customer’s experience second or third in the order of priority, with the retailer’s strategic or financial goals taking precedence.

As customer-centric options continue to flourish in the market, it will be increasingly difficult for alternative approaches to compete.

Walmart Scan & Go allows the customer to avoid the dreaded checkout process by shifting the work to the customer. This includes scanning the merchandise and bagging it. It would seem to be an idea whose time has come. There are issues however. The first is the ease of deleting the item if after wandering down the aisle the customer decides they don’t want an item. The second is, if they are planning to buy a lot of merchandise, who do they want to handle the checkout process? Themselves or someone else? The final issue would be those who want to scam the process. It may be hard to hide an item the customer “forgot” to scan if they buy only a few items but if they are buying a lot and have them bagged then hiding a few items just got a whole lot easier. The door checker process is also easy if there are a few items. However if for some reason they question the customer receipt of their bagged goods, the customers… Read more »

I agree with Kyle on standardization. People shop for groceries in more than one place and don’t want to be burdened with one app per store. On the other hand, the concept is gaining more buzz if not necessarily more traction. The key is in the statement: “customers in the test locations could not figure out how to use it.” If the app is user-friendly consumers will adopt it because it is more convenient. Let’s see …

The key to this latest experiment is to offer a convenient, seamless and customer-friendly experience. Obviously, the greatest advantage to the customer is the avoidance of the dreaded checkout line. We know that the longer you keep customers in stores and the faster you get them out, the quicker they will return. Additional potential advantages should be a customized shopping list, based on purchases, that customers can use for subsequent shopping trips. Also, I expect this latest technology links coupons and promotions at the point of sale. The world is moving in this direction and sometimes technology is ahead of customers, but not for long.

It’s great to see Walmart getting back on the horse with Scan & Go. The solution has absolutely increased the frequency with which I shop at Sam’s — it’s a game-changer — and parlaying the convenience to Walmart makes total sense. The scam factor is the biggest potential problem given that Walmart baskets are often filled beyond the brim with items tiny and massive, particularly near pay days. I’m sure that Walmart has factored this in. Never give up!

This is, of course, a really old idea. Some European operators have been using handheld self-scanners for years. Scan the items as they enter the basket, put the scanner back in its cradle when you are done, get a receipt, pay and you are out. It’s a simpler system really and accomplishes the same things. That said, if you want to develop an app-based scanning system it should be an agnostic platform. So it shouldn’t just be available from Google and it shouldn’t just work at Walmart. I’d like to know a little more detail about what has changed since the first attempt failed. Does Walmart think customers have become that much more tech-saavy? What about the obvious security issues? Are there other solutions such as 360 degree scanning pay stations? I salute them for trying something new (again) but I don’t think this is the last chapter.

Deleting items and buying multiples of the same product are issues as well as figuring out the process to do those things. Maybe Walmart has an effective solution this time around. Costco ran a test of using in-store devices but that has disappeared and was not rolled out. Finding a tool, software and an interface that works for a variety of customers has not yet been mastered so everyone will be watching the Walmart test with interest.

The technology is appealing as it makes the checkout process more convenient for the customer. That’s always a good thing. However there are strings attached. Those strings are in the form of educating a customer to use the app and new process. Make it easy and intuitive. Give them an incentive — a free drink or something of minimal but appreciated value — to reward their effort to learn and use the new technology.

In the last two years Panera Bread (restaurants) started using kiosks to make it easier for customers to order. I remember my first experience. There was an employee teaching customers how to use the system. And they rewarded me with a free cup of coffee. And I’ve been using their self-ordering system ever since.

Like self-checkout terminals, this “innovation” benefits retailers more than customers by reducing labor costs. I may be wrong (won’t be the first time), but Walmart’s test a few years ago didn’t catch on, and I don’t think this one will either.

Has anyone asked customers if they want this innovation that lets them scan and bag their own groceries while shopping? Why not give them a time card and union card at the same time?

The only reason for eventual success is generational. Millennials and the generation behind them like all the new digital gizmos. But I wonder if mom wants to scan and bag if she has a few “active” urchins in tow.

Good move by Walmart and points to one of the major changes we’ll see in US retailing over the next two years. Retail checkout lines are a notorious detractor to the ownership experience. In grocery segment and big box formats this is acute. So anytime you can eliminate, or greatly reduce, the effort and time associated in that final step (the last one the customer remembers before leaving the store) the better your brand will benefit and earn more repeat trips, all else being equal. When it comes to technology, timing is critical and the speed by which consumer-level technology is being adopted portends well to future in-store retailing initiatives. Intuitive and ease of use are a must as well as the store’s network speed. Each store chain will need to understand their customer demographics, shopping behavior to assess what levels of adoption to expect. These will vary from type and range of assortment to customer age groups and store location (urban v. suburban). This makes it more difficult to make generalizations from a one… Read more »

I view Scan & Go version 2 as another bridge technology that will enable Walmart Labs to study how shoppers interact with mobile self-checkout and design newer, better mechanisms.

I’m not a big fan of retailer-specific mobile apps. They are a nuisance for shoppers much of the time. It’s still early in the game, however and we may anticipate some convergence between branded retail apps and mobile payment systems that could lead to more useful solutions that work across retail environments.

That would put another spin on “unified commerce.” Due to their immense scale, both Walmart and Amazon have potential to become major providers of self-checkout solutions that work everywhere.

While the Walmart shopper has a high penetration of smartphones (as do most customer segments these days), I am not sure that their heavy customer fits the “early adopter” psychographic necessary to pioneer new technology. Just like Walmart’s difficult initial forays into e-commerce, their customer base tends to be late adopters. As a result, Walmart would be better advised to improve the store experience and hold off on new technologies until they are widely accepted.