BRAMPTON, Ont. — Loblaws will begin today to test a “shop and scan” app at five Greater Toronto stores, allowing shoppers to save time at checkout. The PC Express app, which will be rolled out to a further three stores in the region over the coming weeks, uses the free in-store wifi network. Customers can scan items as they shop and then place them in their carts. Digital scales will be equipped to weigh produce, and a barcode for the purchase total can be quickly scanned at traditional or self-service checkout lanes as well as dedicated stations for app users. For the future, Loblaws is looking at in-app payment support that will allow users to bypass even self-checkout.
Some shoppers express skepticism. “They’re trying to make us do a lot of the work to get some savings,” Dan Morris of Brockville, Ont., told CBC News, “but I’d rather have people employed.” A similar trial at Walmart this year didn’t catch on.
