Checkout-Free Grocery Shopping Could Be In The Very Near Future

Your Aldi shopping trips may be getting a little smoother soon.

The store chain teamed up with Grabango to launch a new checkout-free experience.

Called “ALDIGO“, this is the first major U.S. store to implement a checkout-free method. The checkout-free technology is available only, for now, at the ALDI store at 2275 West Galena Blvd., Aurora, IL.

The computer system can scan and track every item in the store, enabling shoppers to skip lines entirely. The announcement comes just weeks after Amazon announced that it was removing its own cashier less “Just Walk Out” technology.

This new system allows shoppers to download the Grabango app, put items in their baskets, and then scan a QR code in the app at the end of the trip and have the bill charged to an online account. Cameras are placed throughout the store that use computer vision and AI to track which items are taken by the shopper. 

In Aurora, shoppers do still have the option to check out with a traditional cashier if they aren’t ready for the new concept.

The decision of offering more self-checkout kiosks for busy stores seemed like the obvious solution to lower staff counts. It’s often easier and cheaper for the retailer, but it comes with a cost of a higher loss/theft rate. Stores with self-checkout kiosks report a loss rate of about 4%, which is about twice the national average.

Target announced in March it will limit its self-checkout stands to customers with 10 items or fewer, but it is now struggling to even keep the self-checkout lanes open at all during peak hours. They still require employee supervision.

Several Target shoppers are going public with their frustration over self-checkout kiosks disappearing from their local stores, forcing them to check out with cashiers and causing longer wait times.

Could ALDI do right what Amazon and Target have not? Time will tell!

Susan Saunders 4/16/24