Couche-Tard plans to install more than 10,000 new self-service checkouts in nearly half of its stores around the world within three years.

This contactless checkout system from Mashgin called “smart checkouts” will be deployed in more than 7,000 Couche-Tard and Circle K stores over the next three years. The company, which has 14,100 stores across 26 countries, therefore plans to equip nearly half of them with this system.

"Shoppers simply drop off their items, pay as usual, and it's all checked out in as little as 10 seconds—eight times faster than regular self-checkouts," Couche said. - Late Thursday, clarifying that there is no need to download an app or search and scan barcodes.

The agreement builds on the deployment since 2020 of Mashgin's system in nearly 500 Circle K stores in the United States and Sweden, as well as in Couche-Tard's retail innovation laboratory store located on the McGill University campus.

The company did not say whether these facilities would lead to employee layoffs, saying only that it "will speed up customer checkout times by up to 400%, giving employees store more time to help customers.

Surveys of early adopters of these tills show that 80% would prefer them over traditional and self-service payment methods.