M&S is rolling out self-checkouts for a trolley shop, occupying as much space as a staffed checkout and including a conveyor belt.
Referred to as ‘assisted belted checkouts’, they have recently been added to 45 Food Halls and will be rolling out to more, M&S said this week.
The rollout follows a single-store pilot of the technology launched in 2022 in M&S’s London Colney store.
The retailer said the aim was to give customers choice, with traditional staffed checkouts still available in all stores getting the new self-service ones.
A Food Hall visited by The Grocer, in a full-line M&S store in Shoreham, West Sussex, had gained six of the new self-checkouts, with four staffed checkouts remaining along with a bank of the established style of self-checkouts catering for basket shops.
It comes as Sainsbury’s tests similar belted self-checkouts designed for a trolley shop at its superstores in Cobham and Witney, as reported by The Grocer last month.
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M&S also this week unveiled a new ‘online food catalogue’ aimed at tempting shoppers into stores, announcing the launch at its capital markets day for investors.
The catalogue aims to “drive discovery and availability”, according to M&S’s presentation, by showcasing the latest ranges in store. It also lets shoppers check availability in their nearest store.
The retailer wants to become more of a “shopping list retailer in food”, its presentation said.
M&S last week posted an 8.1% year-on-year rise in food sales in its first half to 28 September.
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