Lidl is clamping down on theft with a new high-tech barrier system that is also capable of supporting a switch to checkout-free shopping using smart trolleys.
The discounter has become the first retailer in the UK to widely adopt the eGate glass barrier system, from German retail tech provider Wanzl, also the world’s largest manufacturer of shopping trolleys.
Shoppers pass through two automatic hinged glass barriers as they enter the store, arranged in pairs to limit the opportunity for a thief to dash out while one is momentarily open. A third barrier blocks the exit of the self-checkout area, where shoppers must scan a barcode on their receipt before it will open.
With “intelligent sensors and multi-functional high-tech features”, eGate also “marks the transition to a new world of shopping with self-scanning and self-payment”, according to Wanzl marketing literature.
‘Pay at the trolley’
The company is also developing a smart trolley to work alongside eGate which will “eliminate scanning and give the customer to opportunity to pay at the trolley”, says Wanzl UK head of marketing Chris Sandy.
“You still need a protocol to police people from pushing out a full trolley of unpurchased goods, so this is where the trolley and gate can start to talk to each other,” he said.
“The trolley will tell the gate it’s received successful payment and the gate will open.
“That’s where we’re getting to when it comes to our products talking to each other to enhance the shopping experience.”
The trolley in development is equipped with an AI-enabled camera to identify products and a contactless payment device with an interactive screen.
It has already been through limited store trials in Germany aimed at eliminating potential weaknesses. “The technology exists,” said Sandy. “It’s the algorithmic and AI side that is a challenge, and that’s where we’re going.”
To communicate with the trolley, existing eGates could be retrofitted with a receiver or the two could be connected over a network making use of tracking cameras in the store.
Lidl no stranger to tech
Wanzl also provides Lidl’s bakery fixtures, which showcase products behind a glass casing. Sandy said an advantage of eGate Colour – the specific type used by Lidl, with an illuminated edge around the glass barrier – was that it more closely matched the fixtures than alternative systems, while creating “a more premium and less obtrusive feel”.
He said the system was also better optimised for efficient extraction data on customer numbers entering and leaving because it was “pre-networked”. “It’s much readier for Lidl to extract data at a point in the near future when they choose to,” he said.
Lidl is not a stranger to technology aimed at removing friction around checkout and payment. The discounter last year added a ‘scan & go’ feature to its loyalty app in Germany, the Netherlands and Poland, allowing customers to scan as they shop using their phones in trial stores. To pay, they must scan the app at a checkout to send their digital shopping basket to the till.
Lidl has also explored letting customers scan with their phones in the UK. In 2021, it briefly released an ‘early access’ version of a dedicated scan and shop app, called Lidl Go, on UK app stores, before removing it again, as revealed by The Grocer at the time.
A Lidl spokesperson said eGates had been rolled out as a security measure to most of its UK stores with self-checkouts.
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