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Aldi opens checkout-free supermarket in Utrecht this week

“Scanning messages is therefore a thing of the past”, say the supermarket chain. Aldi hopes that this system will enable customers to ‘do their shopping as easily as possible’.

However, they have to go through quite a few steps the first time: installing an app, creating an account and linking a credit card from Visa or Mastercard. The automatic payment via the app only works via credit cards.

Upon entering the store, customers must scan a QR code on their phone. Products that are put back on the shelf are automatically removed again. The receipt goes to the user’s email.

The branch in Utrecht serves as a test location. The store still employs employees to stock the shelves, bake bread and answer customer questions. In London, Aldi has also had such a cashless store.


‘No facial recognition’

Aldi says the system only tracks the movements of the customers and the products. “The system does not use facial recognition, eye or fingerprint scans, or any other biometric features.”

In recent months, Aldi employees have already tested the self-learning system from the supplier Trigo Vision.

Albert Heijn and Amazon

In 2019, Albert Heijn opened a supermarket at Schiphol without a cash register and a self-scanner. That was a trial of a few months.

In the US, Amazon already has dozens of checkout-free supermarkets.


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