Unless we are definitively on a path that will lead us to tell goodbye to supermarket queues, we’re almost there. After all, as he writes Republicmore and more chains aim to open within the next year supermarkets without checkouts (also called “checkoutless”). This innovation, originally introduced by Amazon with the creation of a chain of automated stores in the United States (Amazon Go), now spreading across Europeincluding our country. The goal of cashless stores is to offer amore agile experience for the customer who is shopping: no obstacles, no queues and no wasted time. In practice, you enter a store, make a purchase and leave without having to go through the products at the checkout or through a scanner. The receipt appears directly on the smartphone and payment takes place automatically through the application.
Esselunga has announced that it will open in Mind Village – Milan’s emerging innovation district in the former Expo area – special LaEsse sales point. The company will present itself there not just automatic cash registersbut also others technological experiments which will be an exception to the group’s regular stores. Other companies are heading in this direction as well. It was during the universal exhibition 2015 that Coop presented its “supermarket of the future”, which included not only accepting cash registers without cash registersbut also implementation interactive screens with virtual product labels. This latest innovation has already been implemented in one brand store in Turin.
The path of unmanned points of sale is also trodden Dao, a cooperative associated with Conadwhich opened on November 8, 2023 in the historic center of Verona Today Conad “Grab and Go”or the first autonomous store Italy without cashiers. In store, complex camera and sensor system determines the position of customers and various products on the shelves. When an item is selected, it is automatically added to a a virtual cart associated with each buyer via personal code. So many new features, in short. Next should see the protagonist Pam Panoramawhich is ready to launch its first version of the store in Milan without cash register.