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Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has released an Android version of its Walmart Scan & Go self-checkout app that consumers use on their smart phones. This version joins the iOS app currently being tested at a single Wal-Mart store in Rogers, Ark., and could indicate consumers are increasingly embracing the self-checkout concept just as physical stores are scrambling to regain sales from online competitors.
Scan & Go, which has been available nationwide since October at Sam’s Club, Wal-Mart’s warehouse-store chain, enables consumers to scan items as they place them in their shopping carts. Once done shopping, the consumer pays directly within the app. Upon exiting the store, the digital receipt, stored in the app, is shown to the attendant by the door to verify purchases.
“We’re constantly testing new ways to further enhance the shopping experience for customers,” a Wal-Mart spokesman says via email.
Self-checkout apps enable consumers to shop and pay without waiting in checkout lines. The addition of the Android version of the Walmart Scan & Go app is a signal for the broader market that this concept “has come of age,” says Wendy Mackinnon Keith, chief executive and founder of Digital Retail Apps, a self-checkout provider.
“At CES 2017, Eddie Garcia of Sam’s Club stated that Scan & Go has shown basket-size increases of 10%,” Mackinnon Keith says in reference to information provided at the recent consumer electronics event in Las Vegas by Sam’s Club’s vice president of member experience. “Digital Retail App’s SelfPay solution has shown similar basket size increases in its own in-market trial.”
The consumer reaction to the Sam’s Club Scan & Go app suggests Wal-Mart shoppers might be receptive to the technology, Mackinnon Keith says. Other retailers are paying attention, too, she says.
Self-checkout apps have arrived as venerable retail brands like Macy’s and Sears are closing stores in the face of a shift by consumers to e-commerce. Self-checkout apps could be another tool to make it easier to shop in stores, Mackinnon Keith says. The apps could also be a way for retailers to bridge the in-store and online shopping experiences, Mackinnon Keith adds.
Digital Retail Apps’ SelfPay recently added the ability to add a brand’s loyalty program to a shopper’s profile, Mackinnon Keith says. The service also added the capability to work with a retailer’s promotion program to generate and send offers. Digital Retail Apps has also released a software development kit for retailers that want to use SelfPay within their own branded app, she says.
