Malaysian retailers are increasingly embracing automation at check-out with self-checkout counters to reduce the waiting time. However, self-check out can still waste a lot of time especially in markets where consumers are still new to using self-checkout.
Tesco Malaysia has recently announced a new initiative to make shopping a breeze similar to the Amazon Go walk-in, walk-out concept but with a local twist. While shopping, consumers need to launch the Tesco Scan and Shop application and scan the QR code at the store to start shopping.
Whenever the shopper decides to buy the item, they just need to scan the barcode with the app. Once they have done with shopping, they can make payment at the cashier by showing the barcode after selecting “Finish Shopping” from the app. Alternatively, shoppers can scan the barcode on their phone at the self checkout screen to make payment.
We have not yet experienced the Tesco Scan and Shop feature but one netizen who have given this technology a try lamented the poor execution as frontliners were not properly taught on how the process works. Moreover, when trying to scan the code on the self-check out machine, the code was not recognised. At the end, that consumer had to manually scan each item again.
We are also curious if there is any way to prevent store pilferage as some shoppers might only report buying one item instead of having actually more than one item from a similar SKU.
