Seven major checkout changes at high street shops including Next and Aldi – see if your local is affected
A NUMBER of shops and supermarkets have made changes to their check outs already this year.
From Aldi to Next, some of the biggest names on the high street are shaking up their self-checkouts or introducing new charges or processes to cut costs or make the experience smoother.
Most of the changes are being trialled before being rolled out to all stores, so there is a chance they won’t appear around the country for a while, if at all.
We’ve rounded up all the changes taking place so far this year.
Aldi’s £10 check out charge
Aldi has introduced a £10 pre-payment for shoppers entering a checkout-free branch in Greenwich, London.
The deposit is taken before customers enter and is then deducted from their final bill.
But anyone spending less than £10 or leaving the store empty-handed could have to wait days for a refund under the new scheme.
The charge applies to both app users and contactless payment shoppers as the so-called “shop & go” store.
The Greenwich store is currently Aldi’s checkout-free location.
Next’s self-service tills
Clothes and homeware retailer Next is introducing self-service checkout tills from this month to cut staffing costs.
It comes as the chain has warned it would have to raise its prices by 1% this year to cover the impact from the government’s last Budget.
The self-checkouts have been trialled at some shops, but Next has not revealed which branches have been selected.
However, it confirmed that if the trial was successful they would be rolled out nationally within the next six months.
The shop’s boss, Lord Wolfson said that Next would not be making redundancies but would not be replacing staff or hiring as many as it planned going forward.
M&S’s smart checkouts
Marks and Spencer is trialling new smart checkouts that will add up shoppers’ baskets without the need to scan items.
The trial is currently running in the clothing and home departments of M&S’ branch in Woking, Surrey, and, if successful, it could be rolled out to other branches.
The tills use chips embedded in price tags to automatically identify items with no need for scanning.
Prices are then totted up and shoppers are presented with their bill.
The tills are already used by a limited number of retailers including Uniqlo, to speed up checkout times and free up staff’s time.
Changing barcodes
Barcodes could be getting a rebrand this year as GS1, the organisation that oversees barcodes, has said they will be replaced by QR codes.
Anne Godfrey, chief executive of GS1 UK, said almost half of British retailers have already updated their tills to accommodate scanning the new codes.
The reason for the change is because barcodes are limited to holding just seven pieces of basic information – a product’s name, manufacturer, type, size, weight, colour, and its price.
When these barcodes are scanned at tills, their number is matched to an enormous database of products to make sure that customers are charged correctly.
But QR codes can contain far more information about products including their ingredients and allergens, for example.
Two-step checkout verification
New rules are being planned for anyone buying knives online to improve safety.
Shoppers will have to submit a copy of their photo ID when buying knives online from supermarkets or other retailers, and then again when they are delivered.
Delivery firms will only be able to hand over the item to the person who ordered it.
The measures were introduced by Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, who said: “It’s a total disgrace how easy it still is for children to get dangerous weapons online.
“It’s too easy to put in false birth dates, parcels are too often being dropped off at a doorstop with no questions asked.
“We cannot go on like this. We need much stronger checks – before you buy, before it’s delivered.”
Scratchcard shake-up
Shoppers will be able to buy scratch cards from a dispenser machine rather than having to queue up and buy them over the counter.
And shoppers in Ashton-under-Lyne will be first to test the new technology at their local Asda.
National Lottery Scratchcard games will be stored securely in an automated dispenser.
Around 20 different types of scratchcards will be available for purchase.
Customers will be able to view the most up to date games available and then once they have made their choice a colleague will enable the selection.
The machine will be the first of its kind in Europe.
The trial could last several months before the creators will assess how to move forward.
Backtracking at Itsu
Itsu has announced it is reintroducing two more staffed tills to each of its 83 outlets after admitting it was using too many self-service checkouts.
At the moment, each restaurant has only one manned till but a number of self-service checkouts.
But Itsu founder Julian Metcalfe told the Financial Times he believes the chain “embraced technology too quickly”.
How to save money on your supermarket shop
THERE are plenty of ways to save on your grocery shop.
You can look out for yellow or red stickers on products, which show when they’ve been reduced.
If the food is fresh, you’ll have to eat it quickly or freeze it for another time.
Making a list should also save you money, as you’ll be less likely to make any rash purchases when you get to the supermarket.
Going own brand can be one easy way to save hundreds of pounds a year on your food bills too.
This means ditching “finest” or “luxury” products and instead going for “own” or value” type of lines.
Plenty of supermarkets run wonky veg and fruit schemes where you can get cheap prices if they’re misshapen or imperfect.
For example, Lidl runs its Waste Not scheme, offering boxes of 5kg of fruit and vegetables for just £1.50.
If you’re on a low income and a parent, you may be able to get up to £442 a year in Healthy Start vouchers to use at the supermarket too.
Plus, many councils offer supermarket vouchers as part of the Household Support Fund.