I well remember Safeway Scan n Go. There were special trollies on which to load the specially produced green plastic crates for loading straight into the car. I thought it worked well. Still have some of the crates in the garage, in use as storage boxes.
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Supermarkets discussion
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Peter Sarf
Established Member
I have a Sainsburys box that must have been for Scan and Go maybe. I know I invested in it and then wised up. It languishes in the shed with long forgotten contents in it.
Asda gets another media mention: https://www.theguardian.com/busines...share-of-market-hits-new-nadir?CMP=GTUK_email
etc
dorsetdesiro
Member
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Asda & Morrisons possibly could combine to survive but one name probably will result of a potential merger as both are Yorkshire based so one head office in either Leeds or Bradford will close.
Some years ago before the Walmart takeover, Asda was to merge with Safeway but they couldn't agree whose name should be above the doors. Also the failed Sainsburys-Asda merger would have kept both names as typical Sainsburys shoppers are quite different to those of Asda.
Both Morrisons & Asda appear to be in trouble and owned by "asset strippers" so just one of their names could survive a possible merger.
Some years ago before the Walmart takeover, Asda was to merge with Safeway but they couldn't agree whose name should be above the doors. Also the failed Sainsburys-Asda merger would have kept both names as typical Sainsburys shoppers are quite different to those of Asda.
Both Morrisons & Asda appear to be in trouble and owned by "asset strippers" so just one of their names could survive a possible merger.
gg1
Established Member
Doesn't surprise me at all, of the big 4 supermarkets, Asda and Morrisons are the two where I've noticed a real drop in quality, service and range of products the past few years. I used to alternate between all 4 but I've pretty much given up on Morrisons entirely and only go to Asda once every couple of months on average now.
jon81uk
Member
Safeway had it mid 1990s, Sainsbury's late 1990s, Waitrose early 2000s and then other supermarkets added it too.
Currently Waitrose, Asda, Sainsbury's and Tesco all have some kind of scan as you go system that I know of.
Buzby
Member
My issue is (in Sainsbury’) is that I go round filling a basket, but it’s a faff fumbling for the phone with each item, so I wait until I’m done, find a corner and scan my basket, before heading for the till. Then on scanning the till QR code and then having to add stuff like veg and non coded bakery items the payment goes through and I have still to pack my bag! Whilst the till complains there’s something in the bagging area! Then I get home and can’t find all the items I bought!
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Thought so, and short-lived. I try and avoid supermarkets if I can, but I think I remember the Asda one.
jon81uk
Member
I go round scanning with the handset and putting directly into my bag.
Buzby
Member
For some reason I never thought of that (as I hadn't paid for anything yet!). I take the point though. I still have to find the items I need to do manually though....
There are barcodes on the shelf for loose items priced per item, or you use the scales to print a label for loose items sold by weight.
Same here in Waitrose, grab a scanner on the way in, scan each item as I put it in my bag(s), get to Quick Check kiosk, scan barcode to check items in, (add free coffee if taken) scan any voucher barcodes on my phone that I'm using, pay with card. The only additional delay is when I'm randomly selected for a rescan, assistant comes over, selects a couple/few high value items and then it's cleared. Couldn't be easier.
I only wish there was a way to pay on your phone so you avoid having to go to the checkouts at all (I know sainsburys have these in some of their small local stores) and a way to have age verification within the app so you don't need to get manually checked
py_megapixel
Established Member
My experience is quite the contrary - small Asda stores are I believe a relatively new phenomenon and so there aren't that many of them, but I've been generally quite impressed with the range in the ones I have been in.
I don't really have a "main supermarket", using whichever is convenient of Tesco, Asda, Aldi and Lidl, and I'm generally satisfied with whichever of those I go to. I rarely go to Sainsbury's simply because I have no compelling reason to, but I have nothing particularly against it. The only one of the major supermarket chains I actively avoid at the moment is Morrisons, because I tend to find their stores dingy, cluttered, understocked and understaffed, and they are rarely competitive on price.
SuspectUsual
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Leveraged buyout leaves company in a mess…..again
And they’ve butchered their SAP implementation too
lookapigeon
Member
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Is this a cautionary tale of 'what has private equity ever done for us'? I would think Morrisons would be the stronger of the two, as they have (as far as I am aware) got vertical integration, as in they farm and produce their own meat etc. That's if it's not all been flogged off already.
Asda has more risk, as not only is there the very large pile of debt, there's also the issue of the IT integration to try and detach it from Walmart, no doubt it is costing them an arm and a leg to continue to use their systems. They've also thought it's a good idea to outsource the entire IT operation as well, fantastic way to trash any goodwill and staff morale.
Asda has more risk, as not only is there the very large pile of debt, there's also the issue of the IT integration to try and detach it from Walmart, no doubt it is costing them an arm and a leg to continue to use their systems. They've also thought it's a good idea to outsource the entire IT operation as well, fantastic way to trash any goodwill and staff morale.
SuspectUsual
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They had plenty of time for this when the deal was done, but in the best traditions of big business IT projects it’s running massively over budget and behind time
I don’t think they’re *yet* into punitive payments to Walmart but it’s getting close
I think it's the end of the line for the ASDA brand - it was cheap and cheerless. Now Lidl and Aldi are also in the picture and doing cheaper and cheerful, it seems to have lost its place in the market.
Blindtraveler
Established Member
I wouldn't be surprised to see Asda shrinking dramatically and equally would be unsurprised if they merged or went bust or similar
Xenophon PCDGS
Veteran Member
I have never used any of these offshoot branches of any supermarket. In a small milage radius of where I now live, there are very large supermarkets of Sainsburys, Morrisons, Tesco, Asda and Waitrose from which to choose.
Davester50
Member
There was an interesting bit on Wake up to Money about Asda and the issues there.
The lack of a CEO being one.
Wake up to money Starts at 38:08
Also the same pundit here
I use my phone, and put things straight in the bag. There’s never anything I need to sort at the till except age verification, and the occaisonal security tag to be removed (although once I forgot and got the Taittinger home before realising! Special Birthday present, honest). All the nectar discounts etc done automatically. So easy.
Deviating slightly but one solution to the issue with self checkouts is to take the approach some clothes shops now use, there is no conventional scanner at the checkout just a "hole" that you put what you are buying in and using, I assume, RFID it knows what you've put in and it all appears magically, it's even linked to the tag remover (or so it would seem) so you don't even need an assistant to remove the security tags.
Just think you get to the end of your supermarket shop and just dump all the items on the bagging area, no unexpected item in the bagging area as it would know what was in there and no time needed to scan items. Would probably work through normal bags too so you could pack as you went along.
Just think you get to the end of your supermarket shop and just dump all the items on the bagging area, no unexpected item in the bagging area as it would know what was in there and no time needed to scan items. Would probably work through normal bags too so you could pack as you went along.
py_megapixel
Established Member
Except that requires lots of expensive cameras and sensors, many more than would be found in a conventional supermarket, as well as a system that carries out computationally intensive image analysis in real time.
Compare that with scan-and-go, which is almost as quick to use, and can be added into a typical existing supermarket almost overnight and at a far lower cost. Not to mention the fact that the scan-and-go handset or mobile app displays a running total, which is extremely useful, and you can also use it to check what you've picked up already without rummaging through shopping. It could be made even more useful with software upgrades by e.g. showing you where to find specific things in the store.
I'm a big advocate of scan-and-go, to the point that I'll deliberately seek out stores that offer it. (It's another reason for me to avoid Morrisons, and also a factor that's pushing me away from Aldi/Lidl and back towards the conventional big supermarkets.) But I can't see Amazon's "just walk out" concept as anything but a monumentally over-engineered way of achieving something slightly less convenient.
While i tend to agree with you, cameras arent that expensive, the software / logic and systems are already written, and it saves a load of money on checkouts, handsets, etc.
jon81uk
Member
RFID tags are relatively expensive compared to barcodes. They are more useful for clothing where you need to keep track of multiple sizes and need some theft control.
To pick up on a few things in here.
The 'front-end' in supermarkets is evolving at pace. The direction of travel is more self checkout, more scan and go (which is by far the fastest way to pay, in my experience), and fewer staffed checkouts. Some may say this reduces jobs but jobs have been created in areas of the stores you might not always see, picking for home delivery being an example.
The number of self checkouts accepting cash has been reduced for a number of reasons. Cash purchases are in decline (less than 15% of sales and lower than that in London), Self checkouts taking cash take up more space than card only ones and they are more expensive to install (due to the built in safe). They are also more expensive to operate as the cash has to be counted and reconciled.
Barriers to exit checkout areas are widely used on the continent but relatively new in the UK. They're not perfect and, like ticket barriers at railway stations, do not mean that someone has paid for everything but, along with a number of other measures they are a deterrent at a time when crime is on the increase.
I suspect that before too long we'll see Amazon style camera technology. Amazon Fresh have it in their stores and Tesco Express and Sainsbury's Local both have trials. The Tesco Express store at Fulham Reach is interesting as the camera technology works differently - you pick up your items visit a till and press a button on the screen and everything you've picked up appears on the screen. It's like scan and go but without having to do the scanning! You then pay in the normal way. I visited and tried to trick the system by picking things up and putting things down but I got charged correctly. Also you don't have to use a Clubcard (althogh using them is encouraged)
Kwik Save was taken over by Somerfield in 1998. Some of the stores were converted to the Somerfield brand but those that weren't sold were sold in 2006 to a company called BTTF. In 2007 BTTF (who by then had renamed thesleves Kwik Save stores) went into liquidation and most stores closed. Some stores were sold to a separate company called FreshXpress but they subsequently went bust a year or so later and all the stores closed.
The 'front-end' in supermarkets is evolving at pace. The direction of travel is more self checkout, more scan and go (which is by far the fastest way to pay, in my experience), and fewer staffed checkouts. Some may say this reduces jobs but jobs have been created in areas of the stores you might not always see, picking for home delivery being an example.
The number of self checkouts accepting cash has been reduced for a number of reasons. Cash purchases are in decline (less than 15% of sales and lower than that in London), Self checkouts taking cash take up more space than card only ones and they are more expensive to install (due to the built in safe). They are also more expensive to operate as the cash has to be counted and reconciled.
Barriers to exit checkout areas are widely used on the continent but relatively new in the UK. They're not perfect and, like ticket barriers at railway stations, do not mean that someone has paid for everything but, along with a number of other measures they are a deterrent at a time when crime is on the increase.
I suspect that before too long we'll see Amazon style camera technology. Amazon Fresh have it in their stores and Tesco Express and Sainsbury's Local both have trials. The Tesco Express store at Fulham Reach is interesting as the camera technology works differently - you pick up your items visit a till and press a button on the screen and everything you've picked up appears on the screen. It's like scan and go but without having to do the scanning! You then pay in the normal way. I visited and tried to trick the system by picking things up and putting things down but I got charged correctly. Also you don't have to use a Clubcard (althogh using them is encouraged)
Kwik Save was taken over by Somerfield in 1998. Some of the stores were converted to the Somerfield brand but those that weren't sold were sold in 2006 to a company called BTTF. In 2007 BTTF (who by then had renamed thesleves Kwik Save stores) went into liquidation and most stores closed. Some stores were sold to a separate company called FreshXpress but they subsequently went bust a year or so later and all the stores closed.