ABN Amro is testing a self-checkout process in the Netherlands enabling consumers to scan their own goods on a smartphone at a store and pay later using the
Amsterdam-based Munch Fit Food to Go is participating in the trial by providing sandwiches, juice and meals, which shoppers can take after scanning the product’s QR code with their smartphones. When the customer leaves the shop, local e-commerce service iDEAL automatically opens a screen on the user’s phone inviting payment immediately or later through the Tikkie person-to-person payments app.
“Given that customers can also pay after they’ve left [the shop], the payment morale of the Dutch is a key factor,” Lesley Flohil, a business development manager at ABN Amro, said in a Friday press release.
Munch Fit Food to Go said the concept frees up workers to produce food and serve customers instead of handling payments.
The Munch Fit Foods test is part of a broader test of using QR codes for in-store payments by the Shopping Street Innovation Lab launched last year by Q&A, a Netherlands-based retail consultancy.
In a related test, visitors to Amsterdam’s Winterparade will have the option of ordering and paying for drinks and snacks without leaving their table, according to the release. Each table will have its own QR code that’s associated with items on the menu. After customers scan codes for items they want, they may send their orders via the WhatsApp chat app, which triggers a request for payment via Tikkie.
More than 1.4 million consumers in the Netherlands use Tikkie, a free app ABN Amro devised that’s available to customers of all Dutch banks, according to the release.
