Woolworths trials QR codes for COVID-19 contact tracing at 11 stores in Victoria

Bars and restaurants around NSW have been using QR codes in recent months to collect customer data.

Woolworths has also expanded the ‘book my shop’ feature in the Q-Tracker to more than 40 stores. Picture: Damian Shaw

Woolworths is trialling the use of QR codes for COVID-19 contact tracing at 11 of its stores in Victoria.

The system, which collects and encrypts the data of customers by scanning a QR code on a personal smartphone, will be used by health authorities for the purpose of contract tracing.

Bars and restaurants around NSW have been using QR codes in recent months to collect customer data, as part of their COVID-19 Safety Plans.

“The safety and wellbeing of our customers, teams and communities is our top priority,” said Woolworths general manager for Victoria Andrew Hall.

“Contact tracing is an essential step in preventing the spread of COVID-19 and we want to do our bit to support the broader public health effort.

“While checking in and sharing contact details will be voluntary for our customers, we encourage shoppers to make use of it in our trial stores.

“Doing so will enable health authorities to make rapid contact with potentially impacted customers in the event of a confirmed case of COVID-19 in our stores.”

The announcement by Woolworths today comes after the government launched its bungled COVIDSafe app in April, which in many cases, has failed to alert users when they’ve come into contact with a coronavirus case.

Last month, Woolworths announced it would roll out its ‘Q-Tracker’ tool to help combat spikes in foot traffic, allowing customers to view shopping activity in real-time and tell them how long queues are expected to be at their closes supermarket.

In an announcement today, Woolworths said it had expanded the ‘book my shop’ feature in the Q-Tracker to more than 40 stores, following successful trials. The feature allows customers to head straight into the store without queuing.

“More than 35,000 of our customers have already made use of Q-Tracker to plan their shop and hundreds have booked in shopping times at our trial stores,” Mr Hall said.

“Based on the positive feedback from customers, we’ve expanded the booking function to a further 40 Melbourne stores.

“We’ll continue to look for new and innovative ways to build on our existing COVIDSafe protocols and procedures to ensure they’re as robust as they can be.

“We’d like to thank our customers and team for their ongoing support as we all work together to keep our communities COVIDSafe.”