Nisa retailer Kishor Patel is to be the first independent retailer in the UK to trial a new app which allows customers to scan items as they shop.

Set to be trialled in Kishor’s Hemel Hempstead store, the Mini Checkout app allows customers to scan product barcodes and then either pay by PayPal, or bring their phone to the counter for the retailer to scan.

Customers are sent a receipt by email once the transaction is complete. The app is currently available on Android with an iPhone option set to be launched later this year.

Kishor said the Mini Checkout app would save his customers time. “It’s another progression in the way customers can pay. We moved from cash to cheque to card and contactless, and this the next step in payment that will offer seamless and quicker transaction times for customers who are increasingly getting more used to using their mobile phones to shop.

“Customers can still pay for their goods at the till and have human interaction if they want. This app just gives them the option to pay quickly if they’re in a hurry and is more like a self scan but without that huge metal hardware and investment,” he added.

App is being developed in Canada and marketed in UK by RMS.