Aldi checkout method sees shoppers charged £10 to enter store
Aldi, the supermarket chain is operating a £10 pre-payment system at their Shop & Go storet. To gain entry, customers need to download Aldi’s Shop & Go app or use their contactless card, which triggers a £10 charge that will be subtracted from their final bill, enabling a checkout-free shopping experience.
However, those who spend less than £10 or leave without purchasing anything may have to wait several days for the pre-payment to be refunded. Aldi cautioned: "Depending on your bank, it may take a few days until you see the reservation being cancelled in your bank account."
The innovative checkout-free system operates using advanced AI-powered cameras that monitor shoppers' movements and product interactions in real-time, ensuring accurate billing and has been in operation since this trial store opened in 2022
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Aldi said: "The store opened in 2022 and is designed so that shoppers don’t have to manually pay for items – they can simply place things in the basket and the store’s camera technology registers the purchase without them having to go to a till - similar to Amazon’s Fresh stores.
"This one store has always required shoppers to download an app to enter the store and makes a £10 reservation (similar to Uber) to ensure the bank account linked to a customer has available funds."
Aldi explained: "This value is not charged directly but reserved. Once your basket total is known, we will use this amount against your total shop. Depending on the total, we will return the difference to you directly or charge the added amount." For instance, if a customer's total comes to £15 and they've pre-authorised £10, the full £15 will be charged to their card.
The total cost of the products will be debited from the shopper's payment card within 24 hours of exiting the store, although the payment may be pre-authorised earlier. Aldi is said to be testing this new approach in their sole Shop & Go store located in Greenwich, London, which was inaugurated in 2022, as reported by MailOnline.
This checkout-free model has also been adopted by other retail giants such as Amazon Fresh and Tesco, with the latter operating just four hybrid checkout-free GetGo stores across England.