The Unofficial Sainsbury's Thread

tch999
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Joined: Fri 07 Mar, 2008 23.02

Critique wrote: Sat 05 Oct, 2019 08.41 Apologies if I've missed it being mentioned already but Sainsbury's have been pushing Nectar (using the updated branding) heavily in stores this week, and with a new app too.

Interestingly, the app provides a barcode to scan your card in-store (much like Tesco has done with Clubcard for AGES), and there's a lot of POS promoting this. However, aren't a lot of Sainsbury's self-service terminals pretty old and so therefore can't scan a 2D barcode? Prior to this I was using an app that allowed me to put my Nectar card in my Apple Wallet, and it worked infrequently on the new tills (mainly thinking of the sleek black units without the weighed bagging area), but never on the self service tills in my local, which are a pretty old and shabby set, and frequently are only working card-only these days. In contrast, Tesco's checkout kit seems to be much more up-to-date and so I've never had an issue scanning my clubcard from my phone.
I can’t say for certain as I’m no real expert, but when I visited my local Sainsbury’s yesterday, the scanning unit of the self scan appeared to have changed. It looked more up to date and had a small button in addition to the reset for the scales that had a camera icon. The rest of the self checkout was the same from what I recall. I wonder if this is capable of scanning phone screens? Out of habit, I used my physical card, so don’t know for certain.
bilky asko
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tch999 wrote: Sun 06 Oct, 2019 08.24
Critique wrote: Sat 05 Oct, 2019 08.41 Apologies if I've missed it being mentioned already but Sainsbury's have been pushing Nectar (using the updated branding) heavily in stores this week, and with a new app too.

Interestingly, the app provides a barcode to scan your card in-store (much like Tesco has done with Clubcard for AGES), and there's a lot of POS promoting this. However, aren't a lot of Sainsbury's self-service terminals pretty old and so therefore can't scan a 2D barcode? Prior to this I was using an app that allowed me to put my Nectar card in my Apple Wallet, and it worked infrequently on the new tills (mainly thinking of the sleek black units without the weighed bagging area), but never on the self service tills in my local, which are a pretty old and shabby set, and frequently are only working card-only these days. In contrast, Tesco's checkout kit seems to be much more up-to-date and so I've never had an issue scanning my clubcard from my phone.
I can’t say for certain as I’m no real expert, but when I visited my local Sainsbury’s yesterday, the scanning unit of the self scan appeared to have changed. It looked more up to date and had a small button in addition to the reset for the scales that had a camera icon. The rest of the self checkout was the same from what I recall. I wonder if this is capable of scanning phone screens? Out of habit, I used my physical card, so don’t know for certain.
This is the same scanner upgrade that Tesco did.
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Martin Phillp
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I've finally updated my Nectar for online use and on the app for the digital card.

Is the smaller reader on the staffed checkouts with two lights on the front to read the barcode from smartphones?

Also if you store your Nectar offers in Sainsbury's on the app, do you have to use the digital card to redeem those or can you use your plastic Nectar card as now?
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WillPS
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Martin Phillp wrote: Wed 16 Oct, 2019 18.01 I've finally updated my Nectar for online use and on the app for the digital card.

Is the smaller reader on the staffed checkouts with two lights on the front to read the barcode from smartphones?

Also if you store your Nectar offers in Sainsbury's on the app, do you have to use the digital card to redeem those or can you use your plastic Nectar card as now?
The little barcode reader to the side of the PIN pad is the only one suitable to read from a phone's screen.

The barcode on your app should be identical to the one printed on your card; it isn't dynamic.
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gottago
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Martin Phillp wrote: Wed 16 Oct, 2019 18.01 I've finally updated my Nectar for online use and on the app for the digital card.

Is the smaller reader on the staffed checkouts with two lights on the front to read the barcode from smartphones?

Also if you store your Nectar offers in Sainsbury's on the app, do you have to use the digital card to redeem those or can you use your plastic Nectar card as now?
I reckon you should be able to use your plastic card. I used my card the other day and immediately got a notification to my phone saying the card use had been registered. I wish they'd add the digital card to Apple Wallet, it's too much effort having to open the app and go to the correct page, it's quicker just to use the card at the moment.

Do any Sainsbury's have self-scan tills that don't have scales like at Waitrose and some Tescos? The branch of Sainsbury's I used the other day have installed scales that can weigh and print out loose fruit and veg labels, supposedly to "speed up" the checkout process though it doesn't speed it up that much surely? Perhaps they're going to introduce the scale-less self service tills at some point in the future?
tch999
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I saw an internal document lying around near the self checkouts of my regular store that said the app based Smart Shop was being launched there in early November.
Not sure if this is rolling out across the country, but I’d be interested to know how you will checkout for this. Currently the store has no obvious room to install a bank of Smart Shop checkouts like I’ve seen in other already enabled stores unless they took out some manned checkouts. Perhaps the new barcode scanners at the manned checkouts will somehow allow them to be quickly turned into Smart Shop checkouts on an adhoc basis as demand suits.

This also explains why they had the self weighing/labelling units installed recently for fruit and veg as these are a prerequisite for Smart Shop.
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tillyoshea
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tch999 wrote: Thu 17 Oct, 2019 05.58 I’d be interested to know how you will checkout for this. Currently the store has no obvious room to install a bank of Smart Shop checkouts like I’ve seen in other already enabled stores unless they took out some manned checkouts. Perhaps the new barcode scanners at the manned checkouts will somehow allow them to be quickly turned into Smart Shop checkouts on an adhoc basis as demand suits.
When I tried the app-based SmartShop a little while ago, no checkout was needed - I just checked out using Google Pay in the app itself.
tch999
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tillyoshea wrote: Thu 17 Oct, 2019 06.37
tch999 wrote: Thu 17 Oct, 2019 05.58 I’d be interested to know how you will checkout for this. Currently the store has no obvious room to install a bank of Smart Shop checkouts like I’ve seen in other already enabled stores unless they took out some manned checkouts. Perhaps the new barcode scanners at the manned checkouts will somehow allow them to be quickly turned into Smart Shop checkouts on an adhoc basis as demand suits.
When I tried the app-based SmartShop a little while ago, no checkout was needed - I just checked out using Google Pay in the app itself.
Oh of course... I was comparing it to another store I've been to that has the handheld scanners too. Do they not do random bag checks when you use Smart Shop? The last time I went to the store with the handheld scanners, the process become quite slow when I was stopped for a bag check and the attendant didn't seem to know what they were doing.
Martin Phillp
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My local store has now enabled SmartShop on all self-checkouts, not just the specially designed ones. Not sure if it's designed for those with the handheld scanners or just those with phones?
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Martin Phillp
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My new plastic Nectar card has arrived.

Changes are that the front is just the nectar logo on a purple background. The Nectar number is now printed on the back, with the barcode, mag stripe and cardholder name. They've axed the QR code however.
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WillPS
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Martin Phillp wrote: Tue 29 Oct, 2019 22.20 My new plastic Nectar card has arrived.

Changes are that the front is just the nectar logo on a purple background. The Nectar number is now printed on the back, with the barcode, mag stripe and cardholder name. They've axed the QR code however.
I didn't realise they ever had QR codes.
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