In a world first, self-checkouts will have te reo Māori available as a language option in all Countdown stores across the country. The initiative is a collaboration with the Māori Language Commission.
“Our entire team is incredibly proud that not only can te reo speakers now complete their shopping in their own language, but that we can use our scale and reach to help ensure te reo is revitalised and used for generations to come,” said Kiri Hannifin, Countdown’s Director of Corporate Affairs, Safety and Sustainability.
Countdown sees around three million customers through its stores each week who currently have access to a greeting and farewell in te reo at the self-checkout. Further audio is expected to be added in the coming months.
“We have bilingual signage in our stores, te reo greetings in our customer communications and the te reo names on the packaging of all of our fresh fish products - adding te reo to our SCOs is an exciting next step.”
Product names and team intervention points will remain in English.
“While using the Te Reo Māori function is entirely optional, we’d encourage customers in our stores to give it a go when they next complete their shop.”
