Ahold Delhaize announced it will use tap to go technology in its Albert Heijn to go stores. The checkout-free stores will allow customers to pay at the shelf itself, using a ‘tap to go’ card or the smartphone app.
Customers see an item that they want on a shelf, tap their cards on the tag under it or use their smartphone, grab the item and continue shopping. The shelf card beeps and lights up in a green colour if it is tapped. Each tag or shelf reader has the price and barcode. If shoppers change their mind and want to return a product, they just have to tap again on the tag and the product will be deleted from their list. In this case there will be no long waiting times, lines and cashiers.
After 10 minutes, the payment is automatically debited from their bank account linked to the app. Currently the app is only available on Android phones, but expectations are that iOS will be added soon. AH is using near-field communication (NFC) tags on the store shelves. NFC tags have small microchips embedded in them that mobile devices can read.
The two AH to go stores in Amsterdam’s Academic Medical Center are the first to get equipped with tap to go, and the store at Amsterdam’s Central Station will follow soon. Eventually, Ahold plans to bring the technology to all its 80 AH to go stores in the Netherlands. General Manager Jan-Willem Dockheer says, ‘We want to offer our customers plenty of choice, quality and convenience anytime and anywhere. With ‘tap to go’, we really bring that convenience to the next level. Who waits in a line for fun?’
What do you guys think, is this the future of our supermarkets?
References
https://www.volkskrant.nl/nieuws-achtergrond/bij-albert-heijn-kun-je-met-de-tap-to-go-pas-in-een-halve-minuut-je-boodschappen-doen~b82f09ff/
AH to go heeft Europese primeur met pin- en kassaloos shoppen
Thanks for introducing this new way of shopping to us. I actually never heard of “tap to go” before. I am just wondering whether “tap to go” is not just a cheap try to react to Amazon’s “grab and go” technology. However, to my mind, even if it is, it does bring convenience to the next level for customers. I imagine that this technology can be especially promising for stores with high foot traffic such as the store at Amsterdam Central Station. Besides, the “tap to go” technology will be cheaper to implement than Amazon’s solution for which numerous cameras, deep learning and computer vision are required. Therefore, I could imagine that within the next month various Albert Hein stores will be updated to offer this new payment solution to customers.
Interesting read! I myself have not yet experienced this new technology, but am very curious to see if it is really beneficial. Of course, most people are known with the current self check-out technology which is currently implemented in many Albert Heijn stores. These also significantly reduce the waiting line, so therefore I wonder what the extra advantage of a ‘tap-to-go’ system is. For example, with the above described system, customers should have a card in its hand constantly for scanning, whilst the other hand is carrying the basket. This can bring some inconveniences when grabbing products from a shelf. When comparing it to Amazon Go, that system does not ask for a card to scan every individual product but uses sensors at the shelves. This seems like a more efficient system. The current system at Albert Heijn, which is grabbing all the desired products, putting them in your basket, and then eventually scanning them all at the final self-check-out seems to me as a more convenient system than this new system. Implementing this new system would desire a huge investment, but would this really be worth it compared to the current self-check-out system? Let me know what you think!
Thanks for your upload Rik.
I believe we are going through a similar transition as we did about 30 years ago when they introduced the self-service supermarket. Back than a lot of criminal behavior was expected, but it ended up not being that significant at all.
For the people that want to try a similar experience. This is now possible in the Spar University app. If you go to the menu and press ‘Skip the line’ you can scan the barcodes with your phone and pay your transaction with a Tikkie (requires IDeal). Now we can all get some snacks during lecture breaks! 🙂
Thank you for this interesting read Rik!
To answer your question I do not think it will be the future of our supermarkets because I believe this system will eventually be pushed out of the market by more convenient solutions. Like it has already been mentioned, AmazonGo offers a much more convenient way of doing groceries without having to wait in line. I also see some honesty issues here? As opposed to AmazonGo, there is no technology implemented that prevents theft I think? Who will monitor all customers when many people are in the store? However, I believe they did a right job for using this technology at their AH to go shops, which are usually a lot smaller and placed in high traffic areas. Moreover, depending on the costs, it might be a good middle way between traditional shops that suffer from queues at the check-out and the more expensive AmazonGo example, which eliminates all inconvenience, but is very expensive, especially for smaller shops.