Aldi Süd has started to deploy self-checkouts where customers can also pay with cash to first stores in Germany. The systems from Diebold Nixdorf are running software from Gebit and have integrated cash recyclers for notes and coins. For example, nine of the devices can be experienced in Cologne’s Old Town at the discounter’s store in Richmodstraße, and another seven in Düsseldorf at its Flinger Straße outlet.
In a first step, Aldi Süd had implemented SCOs with card-only payment. However, in Germany many consumers prefer cash payments. Apparently, the discounter also wished to offer card sceptics the service of a faster checkout and thus increase usage rates. These are probably pleasingly high with the new installations. Visitors report that the systems are often used up to 90 percent of their capacity.
Carolin Sunderhaus, Communication Specialist at Aldi Süd explained to The Retail Optimiser that the discounter wants to provide customers with a modern and pleasant shopping experience. “Self-checkouts are excellent for preventing possible queues in the checkout area,” she said: “Customers can choose which checkout type is most suitable for their basket.” The feedback has been very positive, she says: “Customers are happy about the new possibility to scan small purchases themselves easily and quickly,” she adds.
Rollout progressing rapidly internationally
As The Retail Optimiser previously reported, the rollout of self-checkout systems at Aldi Süd is in full swing. In the USA, the discounter has equipped about 1,000 stores with the technology to date, but these are without cash components. In Australia, too, where the rollout is expected to be largely completed next year, customers at the SCO pay exclusively by card. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, both card-only terminals and SCOs with cash recyclers are being deployed. In these two countries, all planned systems are to be installed by the end of next year.
In Germany, the speed at which self-checkouts are coming into stores is somewhat slower. Aldi Süd is currently equipping about three to five stores per week with the new technology. “The company is planning to roll out the self-checkouts primarily in urban areas, where many small purchases are made, and is looking at individual stores for their suitability for this purpose,” Carolin Sunderhaus explained.
