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A Coles executive has revealed that the Aussie supermarket chain will banish checkouts by the end of the decade and “customers will just walkout” and be charged automatically for their purchases.
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Coles’ head of commercial and express, Greg Davis, told The Sydney Morning Herald that customers should expect huge changes within the next 10 years.
“I have no doubt in the next 10 years, customers will be able to take the product off the shelf, put it in their basket, walk out and have it all paid for,” he said.
The changes will no doubt mean saying goodbye to some checkout staff too, as technology changes the way people shop.
Greg said that technology had already revolutionised supermarkets in the last decade, noting that in 2009 only 60 of Coles’ 800 stores had self-serve systems.
“Now almost all of our stores have them and 50 per cent of our customers use them when checking out. It’s the biggest visible change at Coles in the last decade,” he said.
A Coles spokesperson clarified on Monday that although automation is on the cards for shoppers, the supermarket has no plans to ditch the belted checkouts entirely.
“We have trialled a number of new technologies to help our customers complete their shopping faster, however there are no plans to phase out the belted checkouts which remain a key part of our store offer,” the statement read.
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