Kroger’s ‘Scan, Bag, Go’ program trims grocery- shopping time

Just inside the doors of the Kroger store on Schrock Road in Westerville is a colorful kiosk with what might be the future of grocery shopping — hand-held scanners.

The Cincinnati-based grocery giant has introduced its latest cashier-less technology — Scan, Bag, Go — at two central Ohio stores. The other location is on Chambers Road in Columbus.

Scan, Bag, Go gives customers use of a small scanner, slightly bigger than a mobile phone, that can locate items for customers, tell them what coupons are available, and give shoppers a running tally of their bill. Shoppers use the scanner to log items into their cart and bag them as they go. (Bags are provided at the initial kiosk and at other stations throughout the store).

“I think it is the best thing to happen to Kroger since ever,” said Bob Fischer, who was shopping with his wife, Deb, on Thursday afternoon. “We absolutely love it.”

For now, customers still need to stop at a self-checkout lane to pay and return the scanner.

Kroger also lets shoppers skip the scanner and use their mobile phones, via Kroger’s app, to log items. The phone’s camera takes a picture of the product bar code and the app has all of the features of the hand-held scanner, including a running tally and coupons.

Kroger’s mobile app will soon allow customers to add a credit card, similar to Amazon or other mobile shopping apps, and Kroger will take payment through the app, though shoppers will still need to stop at a self-checkout to pay. The scanners, or mobile phones, read a bar code at the selfcheckout and orders are automatically loaded into the terminal.

The Fischers, who had a small cart full of groceries, got through the checkout in less than one minute. A quick scan of a bar code, and the machine uploads the order, takes coupons and asks for payment.

“Checking out is a breeze,” said Deb Fischer, who used Scan, Bag, Go at the Westerville store once before.