Walmart's "Scan & Go" program will soon be in more than 200 stores, up from about 70. The pilot began near its home office in Bentonville, Arkansas in late 2012, then expanded to Atlanta. While the program is tripling in size, for now it will be in only a small fraction of Walmart's more than 4,000 U.S. stores.
"We want our customer feedback to dictate the experience," Gibu Thomas, senior vice president of mobile and digital at Walmart Global eCommerce, said this week. "You'll see this roll out to more markets." For now, "Scan & Go" only works on Apple Inc devices. An Android version should be out soon, Walmart said.
With more than half of its shoppers using smartphones, Walmart is trying to make shopping more convenient for shoppers who embrace mobile technology. More than half of the customers who have tried the "Scan & Go" feature have used it more than once, Thomas said.
Shoppers scan bar codes on items they want to buy, using the Walmart app on their iPhone, iPod touch or iPad to keep track of the planned purchases and the total cost. Then they pay at a self-checkout screen, bypassing the typical registers.
Source: Reuters
