ched in 2016, which offers a range of packaged ready-to-eat meals. “[This store] 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,” said Giles Hurley, chief executive of Aldi UK and Ireland.  As the store also sells alcohol, facial age-estimation technology will be used to authorise customers’ eligibility to purchase items. Aldi also has staff on hand to verify a customer’s age physically if need be.  The launch follows similar efforts elsewhere: UK supermarkets Tesco and Sainsbury’s have both launched their own variations on the Shop&Go formula; Amazon’s larger Go Grocery store launched in Seattle in 2020 and focuses on produce and household essentials; and, locally, Woolworths has made an attempt. QUT Business School’s Professor Gary Mortimer says Woolies has so far led the way in providing a checkout-free grocery experience in Australia, having launched its Scan&Go offering in 2018, which is now available in 43 stores around the country.  Unsurprisingly, Woolworths has largely scaled up its technology as a result of Covid-19. So far, rival Coles has focused on click-and-collect and contactless home delivery to keep its operations Covid-friendly, encouraging in-store customers to use the Coles app to help navigate the aisles efficiently. Mortimer told Inside Retail that there is an appetite for the convenience of checkout-free supermarkets in Australia, with local shoppers becoming increasingly tech-savvy and comfortable using digital payment options.  “The value is not just in the novelty, but also in the convenience – not having to line up at a checkout, unpack all the groceries, scan them individually, then repack them, and being able to select and scan as you move around a store saves time for busy shoppers,” Mortimer explained.  “I think Australian retailers have certainly come a long way in the last couple of decades when it comes to adopting new technologies. I think of Woolworths’ e-Stores, Coles’ alliance with Ocado to build automated fulfilment centres, the rollout of smaller format supermarkets, and, of course, Scan&Go.” Mortimer doesn’t expect Aldi to bring its Scan&Go model to Australia anytime soon, however, noting that the business is still toying with self-service and slowly growing its online business locally.  Accenture managing director Tom Priestley agreed, stating that Australian retailers have had little reason to invest in such big changes to their technology prior to the normalisation of digital shopping and digital experiences – although things are beginning to change.  “Our population densities have meant there weren’t a lot of immediate gains from investing in truly cutting-edge tech offerings,” Priestley told Inside Retail.  “However, sometimes it can be a matter of timing or luck, and the right use cases: look at QR codes. Before Covid-19, very few people were using QR codes and now almost every Australian is comfortable using them.  “My gut feeling, though, is that cashier-less checkouts [as they exist now] will be superseded by newer, more customer-friendly tech.”