No Frills, the discount banner of Canadian retail group Loblaw, is testing self-scanning via app. At three No Frills stores in Toronto, users of the Loblaw Loyalty App PC Optimum can scan their purchases as they shop and check out faster. Under the name Pcogo, the Loblaw Digital Team has integrated Shopreme’s white label solution into its app using the tech company’s Software Development Kit.
This is the Austrian scan & pay specialist’s first project with Canada’s largest food retailer. Shopreme Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) Nico Müller told The Retail Optimiser that so far there have been no problems with the trial, which started operations last week.
Solutions from the Austrian specialist have been deployed by Aldi Nord, Rewe Group, Rossmann, Dohle Group and Auchan in France, among others. North German retail company Bartels-Langness, or Bela for short, has joined forces with Shopreme and IT Media Consult AG to develop an intelligent shopping cart that has been introduced in Famila Nordost stores. The Retail Optimiser reported.
Loyal customers preferred
To qualify for Scan & Pay, members of the PC Optimum customer loyalty programme must have collected at least 30,000 lifetime points. They can then open the Pcogo function within the app and scan their purchases using their smartphone camera. The selected items end up in the virtual shopping cart, and the system displays a real-time, estimated total of their bill. The app also automatically registers all loyalty points collected while shopping.
For weight items self-service scales have been provided. These generate a receipt with a printed barcode, which shoppers then scan using the app. When shopping is completed, the app generates a barcode. Customers present this at a self-checkout terminal reserved specifically for Shop & Pay users. There, they can pay via all methods accepted at the store. Payments directly via Pcogo app are not currently planned.
Simplicity and efficiency in focus
”Our customers consistently tell us they value simplicity, efficiency, and a shopping experience that respects their time,” said Melanie Singh, President, Hard Discount Division, Loblaw Companies Limited. She explains that the Pcogo pilot project was a direct response to this feedback and focuses on making checkout faster as well as giving customers more control over their purchases.
Loblaw had already tested an initial, inhouse developed Scan & Pay solution in 2018. As Loblaw’s Chief Digital Officer Lauren Steinberg clarifies in a LinkedIn post, the time was not yet ripe then: “Connectivity was weaker, mobile use was lower, and customers were still warming up to digital grocery.
