Shopping in Brussels without ever having to wait in line: that’s the promise of Scan&Go, the system Lidl launched in Belgium on August 24. The concept can be summed up in one sentence—you scan your items with your smartphone as you go, put them directly into your bag, and then make a quick stop at an automated checkout. The first two stores to be equipped with the system are in Flanders, in Melle and Destelbergen, but the retailer has already announced the next steps: Evere is part of the second wave and will therefore become the first supermarket in Brussels to adopt the system.
How does it actually work?
Everything happens through the Lidl Plusapp, which you’ll need to have installed. You scan the barcode of each item as you pick it up from the shelf, pack it away immediately, and the total appears on your screen as you go. No more suspense about the final amount: you know exactly where you stand before you even reach the checkout.
The most amusing detail concerns fruits and vegetables. The store’s scales use image recognition to identify your product by its shape and color —no more searching for “zucchini” in a list of forty thumbnails while hoping you don’t confuse it with a cucumber. And for the grand opening, Lidl is offering a 5% discount on the first purchase made this way.
What we discover when reading between the lines
That said, the system isn’t a free pass. Before payment, a random check is still possible: a staff member may ask you to rescan all or part of your bag. It’s no big deal, but it’s better to know this before you find yourself emptying your groceries onto a counter with a line growing behind you.
Another point: age verification for alcohol is automated, and the app obviously requires a charged phone and a Lidl Plus account—which means sharing your purchase data. For the first few weeks, staff will be on hand in the store to assist anyone who’s unsure.
Brussels isn’t exactly ahead of the curve
Let’s be honest: the capital isn’t just discovering self-checkout today. Delhaize and Carrefour have been offering it in their stores for years, and as early as 2024, estimates put the percentage of customers using it at between 30 and 50 percent, depending on whether retailers or industry observers were surveyed. Colruyt, for its part, is working on shopping carts capable of scanning items on their own.
What’s new about Lidl is that the discount chain is getting in on the action too, and it’s doing so via a smartphone rather than with a scanner provided at the entrance. About thirty Belgian stores will be equipped this year— all those that already have self-checkout lanes. Evere and Roeselare are the next locations announced. However, the exact date has not yet been disclosed. Stay tuned!
