The subtle yet sneaky Woolies tactic you didn’t notice at checkout
A little-known feature at Woolworths’ self-serve checkouts is being used to stamp out potential theft and helping customers scan groceries faster.
Sneaky shoppers who may try to cheat the self-serve system by scanning avocados as carrots should beware.
New technology at the assisted checkouts will now be able to detect the type of loose product a customer is purchasing.
The upgrade in the self-service checkout machines has been rolled out in 220 of its 1050 stores and allows the scanner to analyse the subtle characteristics of the product being weighed.
The screen will then give chekoutlists with three fruit and vegetable options to choose from.
“So if a customer places a loose tomato on the scanner, the system will show a range of tomato varieties rather than the full list of fruit and veg items,” a Woolworths spokesperson told Yahoo News Australia.
“This makes self-serve that little bit faster and improves the accuracy of product selection for customers.”
The Picklist Assist feature scans fruit and vegetables using imaging technology.
It brings up shortlists of items to help shoppers make selection of their product image quicker.
Woolworths hopes the technology will simplify their shop.
“We’re always looking for ways to make shopping easier for our customers,” the Woolworths spokesperson said.
“As we progressively upgrade our assisted checkouts, we have access to new technology, which helps customers find loose fruit and veg items in the system faster.
“The system uses image recognition technology to filter the list of possible products based on their colour, shape or size.”