Source: Courier Mail

Story by: Kelmeny Fraser

QUEENSLAND shoppers will be ringing-up their own groceries in supermarket aisles using handheld scanners as early as next year.

Independent supermarkets trading under the IGA brand will introduce the controversial technology in 2012 in a move set to leave the major retailers stuck in the long queue by raising the bar in the hi-tech shopping race.

Coles and Woolworths have already introduced rival smart phone applications for shoppers and have rolled out hundreds of self-scan checkouts.

But the IGA plan will allow shoppers to scan grocery items as they shop using handheld scanners before stopping by a checkout to pay the total.

It will be trialled in Supa IGA stores at Stanthorpe, Ashmore and Mermaid Waters before being rolled out to other IGA stores.

To read the full story, follow this link: http://www.couriermail.com.au/business/iga-supermarkets-to-introduce-handheld-scanners-in-2012/story-e6freqmx-1226162066826