M&S 'trials' new rules at checkouts and it could become UK-wide

M&S 'trials' new rules at checkouts and it could become UK-wide
-Credit:Reach Publishing Services Limited


Marks and Spencer is testing a huge change to checkouts and items won’t need scanning. M&S is trialling new smart checkouts that will tot up shoppers' baskets with no need for scanning, the high street giant has confirmed.

The checkouts will allow them to simply place their purchases on a till and receive their bill as part of a big shake-up. The retailer says new tech can identify what is in someone’s basket without the need to scan barcodes.

The technology uses radio-frequency identification (RFID) chips embedded in price tags to detect items when placed in a basket built into the till. M&S is trialling the stations in its clothing department at its Woking store in Surrey.

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It is understood to have prepared the technology in at least one other shop, suggesting the tills could be rolled out more broadly if the trials are successful. Speaking to investors, Rachel Higham, its chief digital and technology officer, said M&S was already seeing a “significant colleague and customer benefit” from the stations.

She said: “Customer take-up has been really strong and we’ve seen a 40 per cent reduction in average transaction time compared to standard self-checkout tills.” It comes after boss Stuart Machin said this meant the company would be “ruthlessly focused on costs” over the next 12 months. He said the retailer would also be “really diligent” on recruitment, adding: “I do not see big job losses.

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"We’re a growing business. We’ve got lots to do. Does it make us look at how we recruit? Of course it does, and that does mean we have to think about where we invest.” A spokesman for M&S said: “We help our customers to shop when, where and how they want by providing a choice of manned checkouts and self-service tills and we always offer customers the option to shop and pay with a colleague’s help.

"As a growth business, we do not have plans to reduce the size of our workforce or stop recruitment.”