And finally the cashiers of a large supermarket chain: the “experiment” begins in Thessaloniki

“Are you going to open another box?” One of the most common phrases heard in Lidl supermarkets during peak hours will soon become a thing of the past as its management has begun trialling cash self-checkout registers in Greece that aim to completely replace cashier-operated ones within the next two years.

As flash.gr first wrote last Januarythe German chain, which this year completed 25 years in Greece, will first conduct the experiment in a number of stores, and then, if the “experiment” is successful, will expand it to all of the chain’s supermarkets.

Departure from Thessaloniki to Sindos

As stated yesterday in his speech at the ceremony celebrating the 25th anniversary of Lidl Hellas, Chairman of the Board Martin Brandenburger, Indeed, the first store where self-service cash registers were installed is located in the Sindos area of ​​Thessaloniki While by the end of summer, the first station in Athens will also be operational. According to management planning, the goal is that by the end of 2026, all of the chain’s supermarkets – currently 230 – will be converted exclusively into self-checkout stores.

Greece is one of the first countries to move to the new model, where the goal is to serve consumers faster and utilize cash register staff in other positions within the supermarket. It is worth noting that the first country where this new practice was widely implemented was Romania, while it is implemented to a lesser extent in Germany, Spain and Italy. According to global press reports, technology company Etap has reached an agreement to supply 7,200 self-service cash registers to Lidl in 12 countries by the beginning of 2025.

How will they work?

As mentioned above, for Greece, the model is being examined where self-cash registers will operate exclusively with staff having a supervisory and supportive role so that there is complete knowledge of the process. In addition to the rest of the products that will be scanned themselves at the cash registers, Lidl customers, following simple instructions from the relevant tables, will be asked, before arriving at the cash register, to apply barcode labels themselves on non-standard products such as those in the “hot corners”. (bakery) or at the grocery store.

All self-service outlets will accept exclusively electronic payments and in each store – according to the practice being tested abroad – there will also be “hybrid” payments where the customer who will self-scan will be able to pay the company employee in cash. The procedure does not require the use of the Lidl Plus loyalty card.

Paperless receipts

Another change that will happen over the summer is the removal of paper receipts for Lidl Plus card holders. The above will only receive proof of their purchases electronically in the Lidl app. The above procedure is part of the chain’s policy to reduce paper consumption. In this direction, the number of copies of booklets printed by the series has been significantly reduced.

Source: flash.gr

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