Spar Colruyt Group launches first: self-scan with smartphone helps customers save time

Spar Colruyt Group starts with a first on the Belgian market. With the new Scan. Pay. Go. app, customers can scan and pay their groceries with their smartphone. Spar is the first supermarket chain to introduce this innovative self-scan system to respond to the rapidly changing retail landscape. In a first test phase, this extra service is introduced in four Spar stores in June. The classic checkouts still exist so customers can choose how they want to pay their bill.

Monday, June 4, 2018

"No queue for me"

Thanks to the new Scan. Pay. Go. app – with baseline “No queue for me” – customers can use their smartphone to scan and pay for products, without having to pass by a classic checkout. Unpacked products, such as fruit and vegetables, can be labelled on the digital scales in the store. "No individual scanner, no separate payment system, no distinct receipt. All our customers need, is their smartphone”, says Dirk Depoorter, manager of Retail Partners Colruyt Group, the Spar licence holder in Belgium. “It is an extra service we offer to meet the changing habits of some of our customers. Some customers want to shop as quickly as possible.  From now on, they can choose between two systems to pay. If a customer chooses 'no queue for me', Scan. Pay. Go. is the perfect solution."

How does it work? 

Log in once on the Scan. Pay. Go. app with Xtra, the smart customer card that can be used in 10 Colruyt Group store formats and web shops. Customers scan the product they place in their basket or cart. They can consult the total amount in their shopping basket any time. When they are ready, they pay with their online banking app or the Bancontact app. When the products are paid, they receive a QR code on the screen with which they can leave the shop by a gate. If they have questions or problems, the employees are ready to help. They have been trained for this.

Spar consciously chooses to keep the classic way of shopping with manned checkouts as well. It allows customers to choose between the two systems. If a customer chose to scan products and then changes his mind, he can still go to the classic checkout.

Customised technology for Spar Colruyt Group

To make this possible, Retail Partners Colruyt Group collaborated with several partners who developed the hardware and software. The American technology company FutureProof Retail for instance, which elaborated a customised solution in close cooperation with Spar. The integration of the self-scan and the Xtra card with the payment apps in the Scan. Pay. Go. app provides the quick and user-friendly experience that is typical of the local Spar supermarkets.

Rollout in the stores

The app is launched on 4 June at Spar Wespelaar. Customers of Spar Kalken can test the self-scan for the first time on 18 June. Spar Vielsalm and Sint-Genesius-Rode follow on 25 June. Local store format OKay will soon introduce the technology in a few test stores. Indeed, the self-scan application matches the philosophy of a local store perfectly: a quick and pleasant shopping experience. After a test phase of at least 6 months, the further rollout to other stores will be examined.