Quicker Checkout With Smartphones?

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Smartphones may soon speed up checkout at Walmart.

Mashable reported Friday that the retail giant is testing an iPhone-based self-checkout system at an Arkansas store…

Customers bag their purchases as they shop, and are required to stop by a self-checkout to pay for them before leaving the store, so you’re not actually finalizing your purchase on your phone.

The app also allows customers to create virtual shopping lists, and see what items on their list are in stock.

This differs from mobile payments, where you pay with a wave of the phone but otherwise go through a normal check-out process. (But the two could theoretically be combined.)

The company’s also adding more self-checkout lanes at Walmart and Sam’s Club, “in an effort to cut costs and lower prices for customers.”

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