Walmart Testing Mobile Checkout

Walmart is getting its feet wet with mobile checkout. The world’s largest retailer has been testing a new mobile checkout system called Scan and Go which would allow shoppers to scan items in store using their smartphones. The user cannot pay for the items using the smartphone, instead the scanned item data is sent to a self-checkout kiosk in the front of the store where the user can pay and complete the transaction.

The test, put together by Walmart Labs, was initiated at one store in Arkansas and is not yet available to general consumers. The company incentivized current employees that own Apple iPhones by sending emails that offered $100 and $25 Walmart gift cards if they went to the store to test out the service.

Walmart has been a believer in self-checkout and plans to add more self-checkout lanes in the future. For every 1 second in average transaction time at the Walmart U.S. chain, the company has said that it spends about $12 million in cashier wages, so having consumers scan and pay without cashier assistance could save the company millions of dollars.