Kroger is rolling out a new payment option for shoppers at 400 of its stores that will allow them to scan and pay for their items without checkout lanes, registers or cashiers.

The company's new "Scan, Bag, Go" app can be used in conjunction with handheld scanners at select Kroger locations in the coming year. When customers scan an item, it is added to a running total. They can visit a self checkout to pay when they are finished shopping, and that step will soon be obsolete as well, as the company says payment through the app is near.

The initiative is seen as competitive move against the likes of Amazon, which announced similar technology in its coming Amazon Go locations, and Wal-Mart, which is testing its own cashier-less tech in more than a dozen stores.