Jerusalem supermarket
Jerusalem supermarketHadas Parush/Flash90

Grocery shopping in Israel is about to get much easier, with a new app allowing shoppers to pay for items using their smartphone and circumventing checkout lines.

A new system produced by the Israeli startup SuperSmart allows users to perform their own checkouts, scanning product barcodes to tally up the total.

For fruits and vegetables, a weighing machine gives shoppers digital barcodes which can then be scanned with the smartphone app.

To prevent theft and mistaken purchases, customers bring their shopping carts to a large scanning machine which verifies the contents of the cart.

The system is currently being used in a trial run at a branch of the Osher Ad supermarket chain in Tel Aviv. If successful, the self-checkout app system will be made available at Osher Ad’s other branches around the country.

SuperSmart CEO Yair Cleper hopes the new grocery shopping application will put an end to long waits at the checkout counter in Israel and, eventually, around the world.

“When we decided to solve the problem of shopping lines, we wanted to provide a simple, quick and friendly solution to shoppers,” said Cleper. “At the same time, we are reducing the workload off of the cashiers with the aid of technology that does not involve high costs or long installation processes.”

"What we are bringing to the world of shopping will soon be felt across the world in a number of big retail stores with which we have signed agreements to integrate our technology.”