Metro testing scan-and-go to deal with wage hikes

MONTREAL — Metro Inc. will soon test scan-and-go technology and increase the number of selfcheckout machines in its grocery stores as it looks to offset higher minimum wages in Ontario and Quebec.

The scan-and-go system — still at the experimental stage — allows customers to scan items as they put them in their shopping cart and pay as they leave the store.

Walmart has scan-and-go technology in some Canadian stores while Amazon is also testing its own system.

Metro says it will run a scan-and-go pilot project at an undisclosed Quebec store, despite some past reliability problems.

The Montreal-based company will also add more self-checkout machines, particularly in Ontario where the minimum wage was increased to $14 an hour and is projected to rise to $15 next January.

“We didn’t have 20 per cent fat in our system so clearly there’s going to be an impact,” CEO Eric La Fleche told reporters Tuesday after the company’s annual meeting.

Metro estimates the higher minimum wage will cost $35 million for its current financial year, rising to between $45 million and $50 million per year when the full Ontario wage increase is implemented. A wage increase of 75 cents per hour to $12 in Quebec will be less of a challenge, it said.

Metro has automated selfscanning check outs in 30 Metro stores in Ontario and plans to add them in seven more stores by the end of summer and six at its Food Basics discount banner in the next few months.

No details about the automated systems in its Quebec stores was immediately available.

The chain is also looking to mitigate increased costs by testing electronic store shelves, increasing automation at its new Ontario distribution centre and cutting hours at some stores.