“Do It Yourself” Product Scanning System for Supermarket Customers with Anti-Theft Feature: A Proposed Model

Due to mandatory social distancing brought about by COVID-19 and observed inefficiency of the current barcode-based payment systems, there is a pressing need to alleviate the current condition of overcrowding of the cashier area in shops and supermarkets. This study proposed a model that primarily aims to shorten queuing time in scanning individual items. With the use of a mobile application, shoppers can obtain product information such as prices, discounts, expiration date, nutrition facts, etc. through barcodes or QR codes. These items are placed in a virtual cart and view the invoice prior to payment. This information is sent to the cashier and identified by a transaction ID. The cashier scans the transaction ID and deactivates all the RFID associated with the products purchased. In case of intentional or unintentional carrying out of unscanned products, the RFID kiosk prompts the shopper either to pay or to return them.