Aldi is preparing drastic changes for customers: this is how cool future shopping will be
Created: 01/26/2022, 19:58
By: Lisa Mayerhofer
Aldi opens its first cashless store Aldi Shop&Go in London © Danielgravesphotography.com /Aldi UK
Aldi is getting fit for the competition with Amazon: The discounter opens its first cashless branch - gives a glimpse into the future.
London – Aldi Süd* is trying a new concept in Great Britain: the discounter has now opened its first cashless Aldi Shop&Go branch in the Greenwich district of London.
Aldi: This is how cashless shopping works
Anyone who wants to shop there must first download the Aldi Shop&Go app.
Then you can enter the store and take whatever you want.
When leaving the store, the purchases are then automatically settled using the selected payment method and a receipt appears in the app.
Aldi uses a system of specially positioned cameras to identify which products customers have taken away.
For alcohol or other age-restricted products, purchases must be authorized in advance using facial recognition technology.
Then the customers can confirm their age via the app.
Those who refuse the process will be checked by a branch employee.
Despite the new technologies, the branch cannot do without staff entirely.
Aldi opens the hunt for Amazon
Giles Hurley, CEO of Aldi UK & Ireland, said at the opening: "Today is the culmination of months of work, not least by the team here in Greenwich, and I look forward to seeing how customers react to our trial. "
Aldi is definitely under pressure to succeed with its cashless branch: Competitor Amazon is also planning cashless supermarkets in Great Britain.
By 2025, 260 Amazon Fresh stores will open nationwide.
Competitor Lidl, who, like Aldi in Great Britain, is currently on the road to success*, is also examining the concept.
Checkout-free supermarkets in Germany
In Germany, Rewe and Tegut are currently experimenting with cashless shopping in Cologne and Fulda.
Edeka is meanwhile testing a new type of store without staff in Renningen, Baden-Württemberg, in which customer orders are compiled by gripper robots behind the sales room and transported to a pick-up counter where the customer can receive them.
According to a
Handelsblatt
report, Amazon is considering opening cashless Amazon Fresh stores* in Germany, but has not yet made any concrete plans.
So it's only a matter of time before more and more supermarkets bring new concepts to Germany.
The success of the London branch will be trend-setting for Aldi.
With material from the dpa
