How are Scan and Go Solutions Redefining the Shopping Experience at Retail Stores?

People have become so used to convenience and speed these days that they don’t even like to wait for a few minutes. Due to this, online shopping has seen staggering growth over the years, where customers can buy items in a jiffy without worrying about waiting in any queues.

This is also the reason why we are seeing some major changes in how brick-and-mortar retail stores operate.

To compete with ever-efficient and convenient online shopping platforms, brick-and-mortar retail stores like yours have to reinvent their offerings. Plus, you also have to adopt different technologies to cut waiting times and redefine customer experience in your store.

Recently, scan and go solutions have emerged as a savior for retailers like you.

These are mobile-based self-checkout systems that make shopping easy, fast, and secure. It also helps you eliminate all checkout-related cons in your retail store that were previously causing a hurdle in offering a rich shopping experience to your customers.

Scan and go transforming the retail shopping experience globally with its advanced features and cutting-edge technology.

In this blog, we will dive deep to understand what scan and go technology is, how it works, what its features are, and what benefits it provides to retailers and customers. But before that, let’s look at some stats associated with this technology.

What do stats say about scan and go?

A January 2024 report from Polaris Market Research revealed that the global self-checkout systems market, valued at $4.35 billion in 2023, is set to surge with a remarkable 13.4% CAGR through 2032.

The same report, it must be noted, also reported that within this growth period, mobile-based systems are leading the charge. It’s showing the fastest adoption rate among all self-checkout solutions.

Also, what's particularly striking is the dominance of the retail sector in this market – according to Fortune Business Insights, retail commands over 75% of the global self-checkout system market share, far outpacing hospitality and other merchandisers.

That’s some really good news for retailers like you!

So, what's driving this explosive growth? Well, the next stat answers that question.

A comprehensive study by Anyline uncovered what today's customers truly value: 32% of shoppers rank speed as their top priority when shopping in-store, while 27% prioritize an independent and autonomous shopping experience.

Perhaps most telling is this striking statistic: 77% of shoppers say they're more likely to visit stores that offer scan and go technology.

Challenges associated with traditional checkout methods

Retailers like you face numerous challenges with traditional checkout & billing systems. Let’s have a look at a few of the most pressing challenges one by one.

Faulty machines

Many a time, there is a faulty machine at the checkout, which takes more time than usual to finish the checkout process. The faulty machines also slow down the entire checkout process and increase the waiting time in queues.

Human errors

To err is human. It’s almost impossible to eliminate human error in any field, including checkouts at retail stores. Incorrect calculations and errors in scanning and registering items are some of the most common examples of human errors that occur at a retail store. These human errors often cause time consumption and affect the shopping experience of customers.

Issue of finding change

We all know that cash payments make the checkout process slower. Furthermore, cash payments also involve issues of paying or returning change where the cashier or customer has to give the exact amount of cash which is not possible most of the time.

Inflexible payment methods

Payment methods being complex or time-consuming is also a major reason for slower checkouts and billing processes. Usually, payment methods that involve cash or card are generally the ones that cause delays as they are slower and more challenging to execute than in-app payments.

Longer waiting times

A traditional checkout and billing process comes with many hurdles. These hurdles ultimately impact the waiting times of customers in the queue.

Moreover, these queues become even longer and occupy a lot of space during peak hours which causes congestion along with restricting other consumers from entering your store.

All these factors ruin the shopping experience of consumers. That’s why store owners like you must reduce the waiting times in queues if you don’t want to lose your consumers.

Read more - Why Mobile Self-checkout Outperforms Other Systems

What are scan and go solutions?

As a retailer, you know the frustration of losing sales when your customers abandon their purchases due to long checkout lines.

Scan and go technology transforms this pain point into an opportunity. This smart retail shopping technology puts the power of checkout directly in your customers' hands through their smartphones.

They can scan items while browsing your store and complete their purchase without ever standing in line. This gives them the quick and seamless experience they expect. Beyond just speed, you're also offering them the modern and contactless payment options that many shoppers now prefer.

How it works

The best part of scan and go is its simplicity. Here's the straightforward process your customers will follow:

1. Getting started: Your customers simply download your store's app. It's a one-time setup that opens the door to faster shopping every time they visit.

2. Shopping made simple: As they browse your aisles, customers use their phone's camera to scan the product barcodes or QR codes. It's as natural as taking a photo.

3. Easy cart management: Every scanned item appears in their virtual cart, just like online shopping. They can see their running total, remove items, or adjust quantities right from their phone – no more surprises at checkout.

4. Smooth payment: When they're done shopping, your customers can pay right through the app. Whether they prefer credit cards, digital wallets, or other payment methods, the transaction is secure and takes just seconds.

5. Quick exit & verification: A staff member may quickly check their digital receipt as they leave – a simple step that helps prevent loss while keeping the experience fast and friendly.

If you want to see it in action then here’s a video for you:

Major features of scan and go technology

The thing that makes scan and go such a success is its cutting-edge features. Let’s look at the major features below:

Auto-synced product catalog

This feature takes all the product data from your store and synchronizes it with the application in real time. Thus, it ensures that all scanned product information is always displayed correctly.

Store locator

This feature is useful for retail stores with multiple branches in the city. With this feature in place, users can locate the nearest stores by getting accurate directions on their smartphones.

Compatibility with multiple devices

Scan and go solutions are cross-platform as they are compatible with multiple operating systems. This feature enables retailers like you to use any device to access your system.

Easy scanning

Scanning items is another major feature of scan and go technology. It enables your customers to add items to the cart by simply scanning items using the application on their smartphone.

Cart management

This feature enables your customers to view the contents of their cart. This helps them see if they have everything that they want to buy.

They can also check if they have entered the correct quantity of items or not. Furthermore, they can move out items they no longer intend to buy.

Loyalty & rewards

Scan & go apps can become a handy medium to create and offer various loyalty & rewards programs. Retailers like you can offer these reward programs to increase customer engagement and retention. It can also help you attract new customers with a referral scheme.

Digital invoice

Once the user completes the payment, an invoice is generated with a dynamic QR code. This QR code is used as an exit scan to verify the purchase made.

How scan and go redefines the shopping experience

Scan & go solutions redefines the retail shopping experience in multiple ways:

Cost Savings

With scan and go solutions, you can remove tills in your store. With tills out of the equation, you now don’t have to bear additional costs on ongoing licenses, maintenance, running costs, etc. Furthermore, you can also deploy personnel required for operating tills on the shop floor to increase resource utilization and enhance the shopper experience.

Also, since scan & go systems are cloud-based, their maintenance can be cost-effective, and the troubleshooting can be done remotely. Moreover, digital receipts within the app eradicate paper receipts and their costs.

Reduced friction

For a long time, customers have been demanding a frictionless experience at stores that enables them to shop and pay quickly. Scan and go provides an enhanced shopping experience by removing all the friction, especially at checkouts and during payments.

As already discussed before, scan & go apps eliminate the need for tills, thereby creating more space in the store. This extra space can be utilized optimally to design the stores to attract customers and offer better experiences.

Vital shopper insights

Scan and go solution also offers retail store owners like you vital shopper insights, shopping habits, and crucial data.

For example, you can know which items are purchased the most or are mostly purchased together. Based on these insights, retailers can offer tailored experiences to all their customers.

Customer Empowerment

Scan & go technology redefines the shopping experience for your customers. It enables them to enter the store, scan items, make payments, and go out of the store. It is an in-store self-checkout and payment system that makes it possible.

This simple process makes the shopping and payment experience extremely simple while eradicating interaction with retail executives and long waiting queues. With scan and go, customers spend more time shopping instead of waiting in long queues.

Loss prevention

Few retailers believe that installing a scan and go system would make their store susceptible to thefts as it will make it easier for the thieves to drop an item into the basket without scanning it.

However, that’s not the case. It’s because customers have to set up their accounts and log into the scan and go application. By this, they let the business owners know about their real identity. Thus, it lowers the chances of theft.

Seamless integration

Scan and go technology seamlessly integrates with loyalty and reward programs as well as other systems you rely on.

By embedding rewards and incentives directly into the scan and go experience in your store, your customers can effortlessly earn and redeem points. This enhances their overall shopping journey.

Apart from that, this integration ensures compatibility with inventory management, CRM systems, and personalized marketing tools. Basically, it helps you create a unified ecosystem so that you can drive engagement and boost customer loyalty.

Stress-free shopping experience

Your staff face immense pressure during peak hours. This duration is stressful for both staff as well as customers. It’s even more frustrating for the customers who have to wait in a long queue when they want to buy only one or two items. This frustration may turn into bitter quarrels and verbal fights between customers and staff.

Implementing scan and go technology can ease this pressure on users and your store staff. Moreover, it also increases revenue and decreases missed transactions.

Conclusion

After reading this blog, we are sure that retailers like you must have understood that scan and go technology is the future of in-store shopping.

This cutting-edge technology empowers brick-and-mortar retail stores like yours to offer a rich shopping experience to your customers.

If you’re looking to offer a seamless shopping experience in your store, you must go for Scan 'N' Thru’s self-checkout solution. It’s a scan and go solution that comes with all the major features we discussed in the blog and so much more.

So, what are you waiting for? Contact us and transform the shopping experience of your retail store forever.