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Giant Eagle launches Scan Pay & Go service

Regional chain eyes faster checkout for customers

Russell Redman

June 30, 2018

3 Min Read
Supermarket News logo in a gray background | Supermarket News

Giant Eagle Inc. is looking to make the checkout experience smoother for mobile-savvy consumers.

The Pittsburgh-based supermarket chain has launched Scan Pay & Go, a new service that enables customers to use their smartphones or a store-provided device to scan groceries as they shop. The program allows shoppers to keep track of exactly how much they’re spending during their trip and then take advantage of an expedited checkout.

Giant Eagle said it piloted Scan Pay & Go at its Market District locations in Fox Chapel and the Township of Pine, Pa., and soon after rolled out the service to three stores, including the Giant Eagle in Moon, Pa., and the Market District locations in Robinson and South Hills, Pa.

The company said it’s the first major supermarket retailer in Pittsburgh to offer a mobile, in-store experience in which customers can tally their items while they shop.

“The notion of the ‘traditional’ customer shopping experience no longer exists,” announced Giant Eagle spokesman Dan Donovan. “The challenge for retailers is to provide solutions for all of the ways customers want to interact with your brand and your products, and the Giant Eagle Scan Pay & Go app has quickly become a popular option for those interested in using technology to take an added level of control in their shopping experience.”

The service works as follows: Customers download the Giant Eagle Scan Pay & Go app from the Apple App Store (iOS) or Google Play (Android) onto their smartphone or grab a portable scanner when entering the store. Next, they scan their Giant Eagle Advantage Card, take some grocery bags and then begin scanning barcodes and bagging items as they shop. For items that must be weighed, customers can enter PLU numbers at electronic scale stations throughout the store.

On completing their shopping, customers scan a barcode on the screen at the dedicated Scan Pay & Go checkout land, or at any other register, and their full order is loaded and ready for payment. The register then walks customers through the payment process in the same manner as traditionally shopped orders.

Paper coupons can be redeemed via the service, and all forms of tender are accepted. Store associates also are on hand to assist in processing purchases of gift cards and age-restricted items. The retailer said Scan Pay & Go, too, is linked to a customer’s Advantage Card and simplifies the use of savings from weekly sales, eCoupons and fuelperks! Rewards.

Giant Eagle said that by dedicating a lane only to customers using Scan Pay & Go, it has streamlined the checkout process and all but eliminated the time customers would spend waiting at the register to have items scanned and bagged. Citing a recent New York Times study, the chain reported that Americans spend about 37 billion hours annually waiting in line.

Other convenience-focused shopping solutions offered by Giant Eagle include the Curbside Express service for curbside pickup and home delivery as well as eGift Cards and GetGo mobile ordering.

With eGift Cards, shoppers can select, pay for and redeem electronic gift cards for more than 200 retailers for immediate use no matter where they are. And with GetGo mobile ordering, customers can order from the entire GetGo cafe menu —  ranging from made-to-order subs, burgers and salads to an array of hot and cold drinks — and then pay for their order remotely and have the food prepared and available in-store at a designated time.

“We believe the savviest Giant Eagle customers will use our various, technology-driven services interchangeably,” Donovan added. “A customer who prefers using Curbside Express for his or her larger weekly shopping order may find our Scan Pay & Go service useful for fill-in trips. Likewise, customers may scroll through available eCoupons via our mainstay Giant Eagle mobile app while in-store using the Scan Pay & Go technology. The goal for us is to equip our customers with an array of unique and helpful tools so they can choose how they prefer to shop with us.”

Overall, multi-format retailer Giant Eagle operates more than 400 food, fuel and pharmacy locations — including over 200 supermarkets — in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Indiana and Maryland.

About the Author

Russell Redman

Senior Editor
Supermarket News

Russell Redman has served as senior editor at Supermarket News since April 2018, his second tour with the publication. In his current role, he handles daily news coverage for the SN website and contributes news and features for the print magazine, as well as participates in special projects, podcasts and webinars and attends industry events. Russ joined SN from Racher Press Inc.’s Chain Drug Review and Mass Market Retailers magazines, where he served as desk/online editor for more than nine years, covering the food/drug/mass retail sector. 

Russell Redman’s more than 30 years of experience in journalism span a range of editorial manager, editor, reporter/writer and digital roles at a variety of publications and websites covering a breadth of industries, including retailing, pharmacy/health care, IT, digital home, financial technology, financial services, real estate/commercial property, pro audio/video and film. He started his career in 1989 as a local news reporter and editor, covering community news and politics in Long Island, N.Y. His background also includes an earlier stint at Supermarket News as center store editor and then financial editor in the mid-1990s. Russ holds a B.A. in journalism (minor in political science) from Hofstra University, where he also earned a certificate in digital/social media marketing in November 2016.

Russell Redman’s experience:

Supermarket News - Informa
Senior Editor 
April 2018 - present

Chain Drug Review/Mass Market Retailers - Racher Press
Desk/Online Editor 
Sept. 2008 - March 2018

CRN magazine - CMP Media
Managing Editor
May 2000 - June 2007

Bank Systems & Technology - Miller Freeman
Executive Editor/Managing Editor
Dec. 1996 - May 2000

Supermarket News - Fairchild Publications
Financial Editor/Associate Editor
April 1995 - Dec. 1996 

Shopping Centers Today Magazine - ICSC 
Desk Editor/Assistant Editor
Dec. 1992 - April 1995

Testa Communications
Assistant Editor/Contributing Editor (Music & Sound Retailer, Post, Producer, Sound & Communications and DJ Times magazines)
Jan. 1991 - Dec. 1992 

American Banker/Bond Buyer
Copy Editor
Oct. 1990 - Jan. 1991 

This Week newspaper - Chanry Communications
Reporter/Editor
May 1989 - July 1990

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