Retail in Asia

Aldi has no time for self-service checkouts

Aldi thinks self-service checkouts are a complete waste of time in supermarkets. And that’s a big point of difference, given big rival Coles has them in 750 of its 780 outlets, and Woolworths rolled them out in 70 percent of its 976 supermarkets.

The German discount chain says that while it is trialling smaller, fully staffed express lanes at a store in Manly, north of Sydney, its model of having extra-long conveyor belts where customers unload their trolleys in one go to be scanned by a checkout operator, and then pack their items themselves at the other end, won’t be changed.

Aldi said it constantly assesses feedback from its customers at the 399 outlets it operates in Australia. The overwhelming majority of customers want to be served by a person.