AUSTIN, TX - Is waiting in line at the grocery store a thing of the past? For H-E-B shoppers, it might be soon. The Texas-based retailer is bringing a new scan-and-go grocery app aptly dubbed “H-E-B Go” to seven stores in the Austin area. Like its apparent namesake Amazon Go, the app allows shoppers to scan grocery items as they walk around the store, then pay mobily to skip the checkout line
"Grocery shopping is certainly changing and evolving and H-E-B is keeping pace with every way that our customers want to shop," said Leslie Sweet, Director of Public Affairs, according to a report by CBS Austin.
Consumers who download the new H-E-B Go app can mosey around the store at their leisure, scanning each item with their phone and bag as they go. When finished, the consumer scans a unique QR code from their phone on a kiosk in-store, which automatically charges the card on file with the app. CBS Austin interviewed one happy customer, Geoffrey Sanders, who got to try the app first-hand.
"You just scan everything and go. It's much quicker than before when you had to wait in line. I'm very impatient and I don't do lines very well so anything I can do to avoid them is welcomed," Sanders said.
Though only in seven Austin-area locations currently, H-E-B noted the app will be available in more stores come 2019.
While Amazon Go was perhaps the first retailer to get in on scan-and-go technology with its announcement in December 2016, several other retailers have revealed similar programs. Walmart, Kroger, and Meijer, are just a few of those on the list.
