7-Eleven has unveiled a 10-store trial of so-called Pay & Go technology, which uses cameras to track what people are buying and can process payments automatically without the need to stand in line for a cashier.

7-Eleven Australia’s general manager Stephen Eyears said the move is all about speeding up the shopping experience for customers.

“Grab-and-go technology uses computer vision to “see” every product in the store, eliminating the need for customers to scan individual items,” he said.

The technology is being trialled initially at 10 stores in Melbourne and Sydney, with ambitions for a broader rollout from there as the retailer shakes up its business under new Japanese owners.

It follows other major retailers in Australia unveiling similar technology, including Woolworths, which has now rolled out a different type of tech to more than 50 supermarkets nationwide.

Queensland University of Technology professor Gary Mortimer said that there are broadly two types of checkout technology being rolled out by retailers, depending on the type of customer.

“The one most commonly seen in Australia is simply Scan&Go where you are using your mobile device to create a single barcode which you then scan and leave,” Mortimer explained.

“The other technology is more around the Amazon ‘just walk out’ technology that we’re seeing with the likes of OXO overseas and among other smaller convenience stores.

“Clearly this is the direction for convenience stores, because it’s just so quick and fast.”

Convenience in a competitive market

Mortimer explained that 7-Eleven is using the technology to make its experience more convenient for shoppers in an increasingly competitive market across Australian capitals.

“When we think about inner-city convenience, it has to be quick with the ability to walk in, grab a cup of coffee and a muffin or a chocolate bar, and then go,” Mortimer said.

“It’s a very competitive marketplace, with the likes of IGA and other smaller players [as well as] other larger supermarkets also making a play with Woolworths Metro and Coles Express.”

But University of Sydney retail expert Lisa Asher said retailers will need to be careful not to add too much cost to their business models with fancy checkout technology, or risk losing shoppers.

“There’s a lot of companies wanting to sell solutions to supermarkets, but it’s important to do due diligence on what the cost and benefits are,” she said.

Future of the checkout

Interestingly, Mortimer said bigger supermarkets have opted against using the same walk-out technology that 7-Eleven is employing, and are instead rolling out self-scanning services.

He explained that Amazon’s initial trials of the service in the US show why, with the e-commerce giant finding that walk-out tech utilising cameras didn’t work for big supermarkets.

It’s difficult for automated technology to properly track customers and what they’re purchasing in the bustling and highly dynamic environment of a major supermarket, Mortimer said.

“Amazon estimated that about 5 per cent of transactions would have to be checked by a human operator before the transaction was put through – they were getting those numbers in their convenience stores,” he explained.

“But in supermarkets they found it was closer to 25 per cent of transactions.”

It all points to a multi-faceted future of checkouts for Australian retailers, where shoppers will have the choice of several options for paying, including staffed checkouts, self-serve and in-store scanning through a phone app.

“There will be three options eventually because we all shop differently,” Mortimer said.

– TND