Meijer brings Shop & Scan to Chicagoland

Smartphone-enabled checkout has reached Meijer stores in the Chicago market area.

The Grand Rapids, Mich.-based supercenter retailer said its Shop & Scan service, accessed via the Meijer mobile app, has launched at 23 stores in Chicago and northwestern Indiana.

The expansion follows a successful pilot of Shop & Scan at 54 stores in Michigan, beginning in the Grand Rapids area in November 2017 and then rolling out to more locations in 2018, according to Meijer. The retailer noted that its mobile app has been downloaded more than 1.1 million times since the initial Shop & Scan test.

All of Meijer’s Chicagoland stores were included in yesterday’s Shop & Scan launch, including Aurora, Bloomingdale, St. Charles, Elgin, McHenry and both Bolingbrook locations in Illinois and five Indiana stores, including Merrillville, Valparaiso and Michigan City. Meijer home delivery and pickup also are offered in all Chicagoland stores.

"We're all challenged by time and busy schedules, so Shop & Scan allows customers the opportunity to truly be in control of their shopping trip, from the moment they walk in our stores to the minute they walk out," Gerald Melville, regional vice president at Meijer.

With Shop & Scan, Meijer customers scan product barcodes using their mobile device and then add the items to their digital cart. As they shop the store, a running total of items selected for purchase is kept as groceries and other merchandise are scanned and bagged. They pay for their items by going to a self-checkout lane and then scanning their smartphone. Shop & Scan works with Meijer's mPerks rewards program.

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Meijer said that, at the pilot stores, more than 80% of customers repeatedly used the Shop & Scan tool and provided feedback, allowing the retailer to add enhancements most important to shoppers. The most popular enhancements, the company said, include an integrated shopping list and the ability to clip any available mPerks coupons for items scanned.

"Customers are really responding to the simplicity of scanning and bagging as they go,” Melville added. “This allows them to save time and avoid lines, speeding up their checkout experience."

Plans call for Shop & Scan to roll out to more Meijer stores throughout the year. Overall, the retailer operates more than 240 supercenters in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky and Wisconsin.