Smartphone enabled self-scanning technology is quietly gaining a foothold in grocery retailers eager to offer the latest in mobile integration. From Walmart Lab’s Scan & Go piloting in Colorado to NCR’s Mobile Shopper rolling out in the Wisconsin-based Woodman’s Food Markets, in-aisle scanning aims to satisfy the convenience-hungry and tech-savvy shoppers who increasingly make up the base of global consumers.
The NCC Group of Companies, based in Abu Dhabi, U.A.E., recently launched a self-scanning project — one they are calling the first ever in that area — in the concept store SOUQ PLANET. For the project, NCC partnered with the mobile solutions company Re-Vision along with Motorola Solutions, using its Personal Shopping System. The solution enables customers to scan and bag items in-aisle, pay at the checkout without waiting in line and leave the store quickly, providing a completely new shopping experience and checkout convenience, according the release. “Our objective is to move from reactive to proactive retailing, providing our customers similar communication experience throughout all touch-points: in-store, online and via smartphones and tablets,” said El Goweiny.
The PSS as a service will be offered both on a portable mobile computer and on the customer’s smartphone. At the store entrance, customers will either pick up the device or use their own smartphones to scan the barcode of the products they wish to purchase, placing the items directly into their shopping bag as they walk through the store aisles.
Once shopping is completed, shoppers pay for their groceries at the VIP self-checkout without having to wait in line, unload the shopping cart or re-bag the groceries. Re-Vision recently launched self-scanning projects in the United States and South-East Asia. The company’s proprietary My-Scan technology has been implemented at European retailers such as Carrefour, Tesco and Coop. “We see current initiatives of the world’s largest retailers to use customer’s mobile phone for shopping,” said Michel Haagmans, CEO of Re-Vision, adding that the move toward mobile shopping technology has no signs of slowing. “Following the European retailers who are setting the trend for new proactive relationship with the customers, we see this technology gaining demand in other territories as well,” he said. “Our priority is to use all our expertise and skill to create another success story together with the NCC team.”
