Modern Technology

On one of my  recent shopping trips to Sainsbury's in Witan Gate I notice some work going on. A lot of new equipment going in, but covered in polythene. I'm not too sure what it's about. Then I see a sort of unit near the entrance of the store with 'Smart Shop' in bold lettering on it. I have an idea what it means. They're bringing in the system that Waitrose has had for years. Instead of using one of the traditional checkouts or self-service tills, you use a hand-held scanner as you shop and then pay at a dedicated till. I have this morning had an email from Sainbury's which tells me that the system is up and running. I have downloaded the app onto my iPhone and by putting in my Nectar card number I can scan each item as I shop and pay at the dedicated check-out. Not sure how you pay. Presumably with your debit or credit card. You can use your mobile to scan using the camera or use the hand-held device. I'll have to give it a go. But I'll miss the interaction with the people on the tills if I use this technology. Surely it shouldn't all be about the speed of shopping. No doubt it will mean they'll layoff more staff in the pursuit of profits. I suppose I've embraced the new technologies of self-service tills as well as on-line shopping, so this is just another form of technology to add to the list. I imagine the thinking is, that if you, as a retail outlet, don't follow the trends, take on board similar technologies that other retailers embrace, you will be left behind, because it's what your customers expect. Tesco was the first supermarket to have a loyalty card, named really imaginatively Clubcard. Sainsbury had it's reward card but then it merged with several other loyalty cards to become Nectar. Very useful for the supermarket because it meant they could keep track of what individual customers purchased and could use the data to analyse this data to send personalised offers. They could work out your age, whether you had children, your preferences especially what you liked to eat, even your buying habits on such things as crisps, fruit, whether you had a dietary restriction such as low fat, diabetic, gluten-free and so on. If you bought clothes in store, even your shoe size, waist etc etc. Further, what till you used, how often you shopped in store, if you used on-line ordering and the time of day it was delivered.