Aldi opened its first Shop&Go store in Greenwich, London, earlier this year, giving customers the chance to “just walk out” after shopping in the discount supermarket.
But, a visitor to London walked into the store “trying to buy some food”, and didn’t realise the new system.
Unhappy with how the store worked, he took to social media to share a video, and it has gained traction.
The shopper, whose Twitter handle is @NEOintheMCR wrote: “Ffs… So I’m in London overnight, and I’m trying to buy some food. I drop into the local Aldi’s, only to be told that in order to enter the store I have to download an app and scan a QR code.”
In the video, he said: “Look at this, you’re in London, you’re on a business trip, you’re staying in Greenwich and you want to buy some food.
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“So you go into the local Aldi’s, like this one, and you think ‘I’m going to go in here and buy some food so I can feed myself’.
“And then you approach the barrier, and look, you can’t get into the shop without having a QR code to scan. And then you can go in and buy things.
“Now this looks to me like the beginning stages of the digital prison that we keep talking about.”
June Slater retweeted the original video and added her thoughts: “Good bye Aldi, I won’t use my local store if they’re trialling such heavy duty controls..a barrier to GET IN to spend your money. Not everyone has a smartphone, especially the elderly..too much control, this isn’t China!”
She then messaged Aldi directly on the social media platform with: “I love Aldi, but your digital QR code store in Greenwich has really put me off. Not everyone has a smartphone, especially the eldery. Is an infringment of rights.
“Cash is legal tender. Barriers to get in a store to spend your own money…very bad decision making.”
Some locals, however, loved the new shopping concept – which is said to have been inspired by Amazon’s Fresh stores.
David Adlam said: “I live in Greenwich and next door to that shop is a normal Sainsburys, so just go there if you have an issue with this place. Personally I use Aldi Shop & Go every week and it’s very good!”
Jamie Wallis added: “Live in Greenwich, use this Aldi. It’s a pain if you don’t have the app, see lots of people annoyed when I go, but only takes 5 min to download. The main issue is being charged wrongly for picking things off shelf! There is there is an old fashioned Sainsbury next door though.”
