A checkout-free supermarket sounds like a dream, right? Not so much for Dutchies who don’t have credit cards. As a result, this smart store in Utrecht is now introducing other payment methods, and adding checkouts to a checkout-free store.
The Aldi supermarket in Utrecht was the first supermarket in the Netherlands to open without cash registers. Well, according to DUIC, that has now changed.
How, you ask? The store has added different payment methods that require an intelligent, all-knowing cash register.
A very smart store
A year ago, the store opened in House Modernes, at the intersection of Utrecht’s Lange Viestraat and Oudegracht. The supermarket introduced an innovative way of shopping without scanning your items, and everyone was intrigued. 🤔
READ MORE | This new Aldi in Utrecht has no cash registers… or self-scanners
How do you do your grocery shopping at this particular Aldi? First, you have to have their app on your smartphone, and a credit card registered with your account.
Then, you just walk into the store and grab what you need. When you’re done, you just leave the store and the money is deducted from your credit card.
Echt?! Sounds cool, but how does it know what items you grabbed? Well, there are hundreds of cameras and sensors throughout the store that track your movement.
Ummm, are we the only ones that find that mildly creepy? 😳
… but maybe too smart
Maybe people did find the store too intelligent, or maybe needing to have the app and a credit card was too much of an inconvenience for most. As it turns out, this super-smart Aldi isn’t as popular as you would expect.
Checked out #Aldi Shop&Go today in Utrecht. First time experience in #ContactlessSupermarket. It took longer to download the app than going in and out of the grocery store.
— Mufty H. (PhD) (@mufty_h) June 17, 2023
“We have experienced that some customers were reluctant to download and use the app. Now anyone can enter the store, even without an app,” says project leader, Omar Sadaty.
“In addition, it is now also possible to pay for groceries with a debit card, which means we meet the wishes of various customers.”
READ MORE | Best supermarkets in the Netherlands: the international’s guide
That’s right, there are now cash registers in the store where you can pay with Apple Pay and your debit card.
However, it’s still not a boring ol’ supermarket! You still won’t have to scan your items, because the store will know what you have in your shopping bag, and so will the checkout counter.
So don’t try anything funny, we don’t want to start an uprising. 😉
Have you visited this Aldi supermarket in Utrecht? Tell us about your experience in the comments!
Albert Heijn still can’t accept credit cards in most of their stores.
What about the people who prefer to pay cash?
Hi there. Cash is not accepted.
I’m really sad about this. I actually really liked the concept of the store and would go in when I didn’t want to interact and didn’t have my cards on me. The problem I faced was that the food variety wasn’t the greatest because the store was too small. I went in today to find the bread was a bit too hard for me to want to buy so I left.
It also felt like it was slightly lower or near to the same price as AH (which was a minute walk away) which did add a lot of variety and offered a reduced quality. E.g. the cereal bars are so hard in comparison to the between cereal bars. The reason it failed was not because of the ai, credit card monitoring or the fact it took too long to go in ( granted, the registering to the app was a bit awkward but once you’re in, it’s so much quicker than a checkout), it failed because it’s competitor that offered better food and quality was so close by that going there was pointless because you ended up going to AH.
Id love it if the AH adopted the technique that was used but now my incentive for going to AH is gone.