Retail technology gone wrong? Jelle Prins slams 'arrogant, simplistic' Aldi Utrecht till-free store
Last year, Aldi Nord opened a Trigo powered Aldi Shop & Go store in the Dutch city of Utrecht.
This is a 3,982 square feet location where shoppers can walk in, select their items, and walk out without having to queue at the checkout lane or scan any items.
In its largest store format to date, Trigo applies its algorithms to shelf sensors and ceiling mounted cameras which analyse anonymised shoppers' movements and product choices.
Payments and receipts are settled digitally.
The store featured in one of our weekly coolest retail technology plays round ups.
And Jan Oostvogels, CEO at Aldi Holding in the Netherlands, said in a press release: "We are very proud to be able to test this innovation project in Utrecht together with our customers.”
“It fits our strategy as a discounter to make shopping as easy as possible for our customers. After all, our experience shows that our customers appreciate quick and easy processes at the checkouts. Our test shop in Utrecht fits this perfectly."
But not everybody is a fan.
Jelle Prins, who has designed apps for the likes of Uber and Booking.com, popped along to see what all the fuss was about and ended up venting spleen on Twitter.
His tweet included a video of himself walking around an empty store.
“This is the most expensive part of Utrecht and this is how venture capital goes wrong,” he said.
“There is too much money floating around combined with very incompetent corporate innovation managers.”
“There is absolutely no one in this entire store. They will be throwing away all of the vegetables and fruit. This is prime real estate. It took me five to ten minutes to get into the store, just to deal with the app. The user experience is insane.”
Prins added: “I don’t know why they did this, but I’ve never seen such a waste of capital and resources.”
“There are apparently no people working here and no one is buying anything. While I was trying to get inside, ten people walked away. This is downtown Utrecht. Crazy stuff. So much for corporate innovation, right?”
He concluded: “Don’t ask for credit cards, people don’t use them in the Netherlands. They use PIN, so try that, rather than this tedious process where you have to jump through lots of hoops to get into the store, where you need an app and so on.”
“When you want to innovate, do it better than this. This is extremely wasteful. Peoples’ pension funds money goes into these venture capital firms and then it’s wasted on things like this simplistic and arrogant innovation. Do better next time!”
Trigo responds
Amir Mizroch, a Trigo spokesperson, told RTIH: “All very new innovations, when they reach the general public, usually need some adjustment time. Teething problems are to be expected.”
He added: “There is no doubt however that frictionless checkout is being adopted on a broader scale, and there is proof of this ranging from The Netherlands, Germany, the UK, the US, and further afield in Asia, each with its unique adjustment period relative to the local population.”
“Trigo and Aldi are working on a debit card solution that should go some way to alleviating this particular challenge, and there are more payment integrations coming that should make the experience easier.”
“Overall, once both customers and retailers experience the convenience and efficiency of frictionless checkout, it’s hard to justify going back to waiting in lines, and we are seeing this more and more.”
London calling
Also last year, Aldi UK launched its first checkout-free store.
The Aldi Shop&Go concept store in Greenwich, London, opened for public testing, having been tested by staff members.
Situated on Greenwich High Street, it enables customers to complete their shop without scanning a single product, or having to go through a checkout.
They can download the Aldi Shop&Go app, which will allow them to enter the store, pick up their items, and then walk out when they have completed their shop.
Once a customer leaves the store they will then be automatically charged via their selected payment method and a receipt will appear in the app.
The system, provided by AiFi, uses specially positioned cameras.
Those people wishing to buy alcohol, or other Challenge 25 products, will be able to use facial age estimation technology, provided by Yoti, to authorise their purchase.
Giles Hurley, CEO at Aldi UK and Ireland, said: “This is the culmination of months of work, not least from the team here in Greenwich and I’m looking forward to seeing how customers react to our trial.”
“This store utilises the very latest in retail technology offering Aldi’s award winning products and unbeatable prices to customers in a new and innovative way. The team are really excited about seeing customers come in and experience Aldi Shop&Go.”
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