Decathlon has launched “cashierless” mobile self-checkout capabilities across all of its stores in the Netherlands.

The world’s largest sporting goods retailer said it would be rolling out a “mobile self-checkout solution” across its 16-store estate in the Netherlands, starting with stores in Rotterdam and Eindhoven.

The Decathlon Scan & Go app, designed by British-based technology company MishiPay, will allow customers to “scan and pay for items using their smartphone, automatically disabling the RFID security tag to leave them free to exit the store without any need to queue or wait at the checkout”.

Decathlon joins a number of other retailers, including Amazon in the US and Sainsbury’s in the UK, which have rolled out cashierless concept stores.

The sporting goods retailer said 72% of its customers aged between 17 and 44 “now use their connected devices (phones) while they browse in stores” and that the new technology would bring “the best of the online shopping experience to its offline stores”.

It also said the technology “liberates staff from the checkouts to add real value to the customer journey on the shop floor”.

Decathlon chief technology officer Sybe de Graaf said: “Innovation is at the heart of what powers Decathlon. We are always looking for exciting new ways to improve the experience of our customers and to remove friction from their in-store journey.

“MishiPay’s mobile self-checkout solution has been implemented very quickly and is easily scalable, and our customers are going to love using it.”