Sainsbury’s trials bigger self-checkouts with conveyor belts

New hybrid systems feature more space for customers to scan and load their shopping

Sainsbury’s is trialling larger self-checkout tills in place of human cashiers after its boss defended a drive to make stores “more efficient”.

Britain’s second-largest supermarket said it would be testing the new hybrid self-checkouts, which feature conveyor belts for customers to put their shopping on and areas to load shopping into bags but require people to scan their own shopping.

The systems are a similar size to traditional manned conveyor belt checkouts, meaning customers can more easily use them with full trollies rather than baskets.

The trials, which were first reported by The Grocer, are taking place in two supermarkets. The aim is to get more customers who are doing bigger shops to use self-service.

Sainsbury’s is also testing touchscreen pads that shoppers can use to locate which aisles certain products are in. This would mean customers would not need to find shop workers for assistance.

It comes amid a wider push by Sainsbury’s to upgrade its stores at the same time as finding cost-savings.

In February, Sainsbury’s said it was planning to cut an extra £1bn in costs from the business on top of the £1.3bn already taken out in the three years to March 2024.

Around 1,500 jobs are going in its bakeries, warehouses, call centres and head office as part of the changes.

Sainsbury’s has said rolling out more self-checkouts is crucial to make the business more efficient. The supermarket has been adding swathes of new devices into stores over the past few years.

Simon Roberts, the chief executive, told The Grocer earlier this year: “As an industry, we can’t say we can’t become more efficient. In a 3pc margin business, with the cost pressures we face, we have to find efficiencies.”

He said Sainsbury’s would keep “at least one” manned checkout within all stores.

The trial puts Sainsbury’s at odds with other supermarkets that have been reducing self-checkout numbers or pausing rollouts in response to customer apathy.

Over the past five years, the number of self-checkout machines in UK supermarkets has risen from 53,000 to 80,000

However, some grocery chiefs have suggested recently that growth may have come to an end. Asda said it would be putting more staff back on checkouts in August, after admitting it had reached its limit on how many of the machines its customers wanted in stores.

Meanwhile, Morrisons boss Rami Baitiéh told The Telegraph earlier this year that it had gone “a bit too far” on self-checkouts and was reviewing the balance within its stores, removing some of the tills.

In the US, Dollar General earlier this year said it was removing self-checkouts from 300 shops to combat theft.

Booths, an upmarket chain described as the Waitrose of the North, removed self-checkouts from its shops last year to improve customer service and maintain its “warm northern welcome”.

A spokesman for Sainsbury’s said: “We are always exploring new ways to offer our customers the best possible choice and convenience. Our trial in Cobham and Witney is the latest example of that and we are listening to colleague and customer feedback.”