Sainsbury's introduces major change at checkouts as supermarket launches new trial

has made a huge change to its scan and shop services across some of its stores as part of a new trial. The chain has made its scan and shop service check out free meaning customers do not need to visit the traditional checkout area.

Customers simply need to tap their card on the device to pay, before printing or emailing themselves the receipt. can then return the handset to the designated SmartShop ports and leave.

shoppers have been able to pay for their shop using the supermarket's SmartShop app on their phones since 2022. However, research from the supermarket found that customers preferred to use a physical handset to save their phone battery.

According to a report from the service is being tested in two Sainsbury's stores in Richmond and in Kempton,

READ MORE:

READ MORE:

Darren Sinclair, Sainsbury's future stores director, told the Grocer: "It’s a bit more ergonomic, I think about this as trying to reduce friction, improve payment and simplify the shopping journey, as well as the future potential space.”

The new Sainsbury's trial aims to test the concept and make it more "user-friendly". At the moment, the self-pay handsets can't process staff discounts or physical Nectar cards.

The supermarket said to "minimise" shrinkage, Sainsbury's store staff will occasionally carry out checks to see what shoppers have in their baskets. Sainsbury’s has also recently begun rolling out AI-driven video scanning in a small number of its stores.

The anti-theft cameras looks directly down over the till and packing station, and if any item is bagged without scanning, the video of it will be shown to the shoppers and told: “Looks like that last item didn’t scan. Please check you scanned it correctly before continuing."

The cameras are part of a broader till upgrade launched by the supermarket back in 2024. Sainsbury's has confirmed that the cameras in a small number of stores, however, it did not confirm how many or which ones. It has also not confirmed whether they will be rolled out further across its store estate.

A Sainsbury’s spokeswoman told The Grocer: “We regularly review the security measures in our stores and our decisions to implement them are based on a range of factors, including offering our customers a smooth checkout experience.”

READ MORE: