While Amazon has struggled with cashier-less stores, Aldi has decided to try this technology. Indeed, the German hard-discount giant has just opened a supermarket with a cashier-free purchasing system in Chicago.
Aldi, the German hard-discount giant, has decided to try your hand at the cashless purchasing system. In partnership with the American company Grabangothe mass distribution brand has therefore transformed one of its stores to allow its customers to do their shopping without having to go to the checkout, whether traditional or self-service.
Concretely, a computer will be responsible for identifying and recording the products collected by customers. This way, users don’t need to scan their items. Once their shopping is finished, they simply go to the terminal located at the exit of the store to pay for their purchases or go directly through the Grabango mobile application.
Technology integrated into existing stores
Where Aldi stands out from the cashierless stores already seen among the competition is that its technology was integrated directly into an already existing site, and not a supermarket developed for the occasion. This way, skeptical customers can still pay for their purchases in the traditional way when going to checkout. “Although more difficult, it was important for us to launch this technology in a typical store and not in a store designed specifically for us,” writes Will Glaser, founder and CEO of Grabango.
Let us add that the first store to benefit from this system, called ALDIGo, is located in Aurora, a small town located on the outskirts of Chicago. As our colleagues from the Usine Digitale site remind us, Aldi has been working on the concept of autonomous stores for several years. In 2022, the German firm opened a test store in Greenwich, a world-famous London district. The principle remained the same, with the possibility of paying for your purchases without having to go to the checkout or scan your products.
Also read: Auchan launches its first cashier-free store inspired by Amazon Go
A courageous move, especially after the Amazon fiasco
As a reminder, Aldi announced the launch of this new technology just one month after Amazon’s fiasco in the field. Indeed, the American giant confirmed a month ago the pure and simple abandonment of its cashier-free purchasing system, the famous Just Walk Out. The device was based on artificial intelligence, aided by multiple cameras installed on the ceiling of stores and sensor scales on the shelves, to identify and track products withdrawn by customers.
However, an investigation by The Information revealed the other side of the story. It appears that Amazon’s AI wasn’t that autonomous. In reality, its product detection capabilities relied on more than 1,000 people employed by Amazon in India. Their job was to watch camera footage, classify items and assign them to customers. According to The Information, 700 out of 1,000 transactions required human intervention. Many worker defense associations have cried foul, accusing Just Walk Out of hiding the relocation to India of hosts and checkout attendants.