East of England Co-op has opened its first-ever cashless store, using new self-checkout technology supplied by retail tech specialist Trust Retail.

The new 1,500 sq ft site at Ipswich train station, launched earlier this month and serves commuters travelling along the Great Eastern Main Line between Norwich and London Liverpool Street.

The convenience chain has installed five self-service checkouts from Trust Retail, making the branch, located on the station’s main concourse, entirely cash-free.

Photo: Inside the new cashless 1,500 sq ft site at Ipswich train station

The move is designed to help speed up service and improve efficiency, especially given the station’s high footfall. Co-op says more than 3 million people passed through Ipswich Station in 2023-24, according to the Office of Rail Regulation, including over 660,000 passengers changing trains.

The new self-checkouts offer a fully autonomous payment experience, including the ability to process refunds, and by removing the need for cash handling, the Co-op expects to cut costs and simplify operations, while also giving customers “quicker, more secure” ways to pay.

The Ipswich train station cashless store is expected to be the first, in the face of a wider rollout of self-checkouts across the supermarket’s estate at a future date.

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“By implementing Trust Retail’s Self-Checkout technology, and embracing a completely cashless model, we have set a new standard in customer service and operational efficiency,” said East of England Co-op technology officer Rob Smith.

He added, that East of England Co-op is the region’s largest independent retailer and already uses Trust Retail’s ePOS systems across its 120-plus stores in Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire.

Trust Retail’s self-checkout platform is software-first and hardware-agnostic, allowing for more flexibility and lower lifetime costs and was designed to deliver faster transactions and smoother customer experiences, said managing director Mike Dotson.

“This cashless store represents the future of retail,” Dotson added. “Our Self-Checkout system integrates seamlessly and supports East of England Co-op’s goals of improving store efficiency and enhancing the shopping journey.”

Last month, East of England Co-op announced it had saved more than 1.8 million meals from going to landfill during 2024, as part of its goal of moving towards zero food waste.

The retailer worked with the Retail Insight partnership, which provides in-store software, to use an AI-powered markdown system. This automatically identifies products that are nearing their expiration date, alerting staff members to reduce their prices.