“Shop & Go” Systems Are Quietly Coming To Quebec

The retail universe is among the most dynamic of business sectors. It is constantly transformed by waves of innovations that never fail to surprise us.

The next big thing to come to our supermarkets is undoubtedly the “Shop & Go” systems, which allow customers to shop and leave the store very quickly, with a minimum of loss of time.

Right now, there is a lot of waiting time at the supermarket. In a recent DepQuébec article, we showed that it takes an average of 6 min. 15 to buy a pint of milk in a supermarket against only 1 min. 30 in a convenience store.

Much of the time lost is the longest distance to travel, but much of the waiting time at the crates.

In this context, the new “pay and go” concepts are a promising avenue, benefiting both consumers and retailers: the consumer saves time and the retailer saves staff.

We see three forms emerging from this type of approach:

• Self-service checkout: the customer passes his products himself to the cashier and leaves (ex: at Canadian Tire);

• Scan and Go: The customer uses a wireless optical scanner to scan his purchases as he makes them (as in the new Longueuil Walmart – see photo and video below), so that once at the checkout, it takes very little time to pay and leave;

• Shop with your cell phone: the customer uses his cell phone to account for his purchases and to pay, all without any form of waste of time since once the products in the basket, he can leave without any delay (as in the prototype stores of Whole Foods / Amazon Go).

It is quite clear that the adoption of these technologies will allow supermarket chains to save in the long run in operating costs and also, possibly, to be a little more competitive with the convenience stores, since the duration of 6 min. 15 for a pint of milk could be reduced to 4 min. approximately.

However, these innovations will require massive investments and will be quite complicated to implement, which is why only giants such as Amazon and Walmart have ventured so far.

Will our national chains like Sobeys/IGA, Loblaw/Provigo and Metro live up to the challenge? And how much longer before they have direct competition, at their doors? Time is running out.

Meanwhile, Walmart opened in Longueuil a new generation store, as can be seen in the following video: