Walmart is tripling the number of U.S. stores in its pilot program that lets shoppers scan items with their iPhones and pay at self-checkout counters. The “Scan & Go” program will soon live in more than 200 stores, up from about 70.
And while that’s a significant progress, it only affects a small fraction of Walmart’s more than 4,000 stores across the country.
The pilot began near Walmart’s home office in Bentonville, Arkansas in late 2012, expanding afterwards to Atlanta.
At the moment, only iPhone users can “scan & go” though an Android app is in the pipeline as well.
The system allows shoppers to scan bar codes on items they want to buy to keep track of the planned purchases and the total cost. Then they pay at a self-checkout screen, bypassing the typical registers.
As I’m writing this, some 1,500 stores have self-checkout lanes, with another 1,000-1,500 stores getting them later this year. All these stores are potential “targets” for this program…
[Via: Reuters]