Supermarket giant Aldi has trialled a new £10 charge for shoppers entering the store with new self-checkout rules. Customers have been left feeling angry as a store in Greenwich has introduced a £10 pre-payment for customers entering the checkout-free shop – Aldi Shop and Go.
The deposit is taken from the shoppers before entry and is then taken off the final bill. This may seem okay for those doing a big shop, but shoppers who are spending less than a tenner, or leaving the store empty handed, they could be waiting days for a refund.
On top of this, customers were not aware of how much money was going to be taken from their bank before the deposit was taken, reports Birmingham Live. The Aldi Shop and Go stores use AI powered cameras to track what customers are wanting to buy in the store and then their cards are charged after they leave with the products in hand.
Much like the Amazon Fresh shops, shoppers need to download the Aldi Shop and Go app and either register or tap their card at the entry gate in order to gain access to the ‘just walk out’ store.
Shoppers were only warned that a pre-payment would be taken by the small print under the button saying: “We will authorise a small amount to validate your card.” Shoppers who tap their card to gain entry were informed by a screen at the gate after the card was tapped. It said: “We will authorise £10 to verify your card.”
The supermarket is rivalled by big names such as Morrisons, Asda, Tesco, Lidl, Sainsbury’s and many more, so the company is always looking to make their shopping experience better for their customers. Aldi CEO Giles Hurley has previously suggested that self-checkouts are the retailer’s next focus, rather than more checkout-free stores.
A spokesperson from Aldi has said: “This is a concept store that opened in 2022 and is designed so that shoppers don’t have to manually pay for items – they can simply place things in the basket and the store’s camera technology registers the purchase without them having to go to a till – similar to Amazon’s Fresh stores.
“This one store has always required shoppers to download an app to enter the store and takes a small pre-payment (similar to Uber) to ensure the bank account a customer account is linked to has available funds.
“Only relates to a single Aldi concept store in London.”
Don’t miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond. Sign up to our daily newsletter.