Sainsbury's reduces queues by 500,000 hours a year

New multi-million pound technology will help speed up shopping, saving customers nearly 500,000 hours each year.

Sainsbury's has announced a multi-million pound investment in cutting edge check-out technology in a move that will offer real benefits and choice for customers and a boost for the environment.

The use of the latest bi-optic scanners will enable customers to spend around 12% less time when using the check-outs. With over 19 million customers each week the new technology will mean shoppers enjoying a time saving of nearly 500,000 hours over the course of the year

As well as providing benefits for customers the new technology also enables Sainsbury's self-check outs to print double sided receipts, helping reduce the amount of paper used by over 350 tonnes annually.

This use of double sided printing on self-scan check-outs is a first for a UK retailer. This follows moves in 2007 when Sainsbury's became the first UK supermarket to introduce double sided printing on receipts, an innovation that helped reduce its paper usage by 186 tonnes in its first year alone - the equivalent of over 500,000 till rolls.

Roger Burnley, Sainsbury's retail & logistics director, said: "This is a massive investment in IT from Sainsbury's that will not only reduce queuing times for customers but also provide a big boost for the environment at the same time.

"We know that lots of our customers really value the speed and convenience of self-check outs, particularly when they are just popping into our stores for a quick shop, however we are as always committed to offering all our shoppers a choice between the two systems.

"It is also great that we can reduce the amount of paper used in our stores when printing receipts as we know this is a real concern for our shoppers."