BERKELEY, CA - Aldi is throwing its hat into the checkout-free technology ring. Partnering with Grabango, the two launched ALDIgo checkout-free shopping at a Chicago-area grocery store.
“It’s exciting to see a checkout-free capability live in one of our stores, said Eric Traxler, Vice President of IT at Aldi. “Aldi is continuously looking for new ways to be innovative and provide a best-in-class experience for our shoppers, and ALDIgo is a great example of that in action.”
According to a press release, ALDI is the first major U.S. grocery retailer to deploy checkout-free technology in an existing, full-size store. It’s not the only option for checkout in the store, as the retailer has kept a traditional checkout experience available.
Having both seems key, as Aldi’s news comes on the heels of Amazon’s announcement that it would be cutting its Just Walk Out technology from its Amazon Fresh stores. Part of the change was inspired by consumer feedback saying they missed the checkout experience of receiving a receipt and going over savings.
We also posit the question of the efficacy of these technologies—not of ill will, but as a gentle suggestion that technology is not infallible. Companies within produce still note the incorrect implementation of codes at self-checkout, and that technology has been around for years. Will this new system be able to account for human error, or does it have the systems learning capable of improving lost dollars and data?
There are more questions than answers here, but we’ll eagerly await what’s coming next in retail.
