Digitization

Innovation Flash: Shop-Scan-Go

A digitalization idea for shopping retailers: introducing Shop-Scan-Go

Business Issue (Annoyance)

You know the situation: quickly pick something up at the grocery or convenience store. The bus to town leaves in less than 7 minutes. You make the somewhat ludicrous mistake to actually think you can easily hop on the bus but ….. oh no … there’s that elderly lady three people in the line before you. She starts to pick out her petty cash and with the calm of a thousand centuries counts the exact penny amount. Finally, she hands a handful of coins over to the cashier who’s already fell asleep.

Guess what? You missed the bus since your »quick« itinerary took almost ½ hour.


Solution Design (»Wouldn’t it be nice if …«) 

Enter the store, pick up you things from the cabins. You want to know how much you have run up? Alas, there are integrated scanners in the shop that – once you bypass them – quickly crop up the merchandise value you have in your shopping basket. You know with the glimpse of an eye how much you will be paying once you leave the store.

Finally, when you’re done, simply walk up to the UCP (Unmanned Cashier Position)1, briefly halt your steps while the cash scanner flashes my shopping basket. There’s no conveyor belt, just a very discreet stopping line. A small display informs me about the amount I owe.

Jerk out my Apple Watch, hold it near the NFC and … bing … paid. A nanosecond later I rush out of the store.


1 inspired from drone terminology I read today. The abbreviation is Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV).

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