Market Update

First printed in Checkout Magazine   

Does self-service mean no service?

The growing number of self-service checkouts could jeopardise customer experience, a recent study warned supermarkets.

The research, carried out by customer experience consultancy Beyond Philosophy, claimed 95% of business leaders believe the customer experience rather than technology is going to be the most important future battleground for retailers.

Founding partner Colin Shaw argues there is a “danger” these retailers could shoot themselves in the foot by eliminating the human element from the shopping experience.

“The customer experience is not just about buying the product, it’s about the interaction and a great customer experience is invariably delivered by people not technology,” said Shaw.

However, retailers do not appear as concerned. Tesco and Asda have announced they will further roll out the technology across their networks. Tesco, with self service checkouts in 226 stores around the country, is set to increase its numbers with the technology set to move into Express convenience outlets in the coming months.

Asda, meanwhile, is aiming to complete the roll-out of the system to all 280 of its stores this year after having the checkouts in a mere five of its outlets last year. Latest figures from Sainsbury’s show the tills are available in 58 stores.

According to Jonathan Yelland, manager for self-service solutions at Tesco, consumers believe there are shorter queues at unmanned tills and some also prefer to keep their transactions private. Speaking at the recent Retail Solutions show, held at Birmingham’s NEC, Yelland claimed the new tills were proving beneficial for staff as well as their obvious appeal as a cost saver.

Yelland argued the checkouts free up staff to carry out more “value added roles,” such as learning about white goods and the increasingly important non food category.

He emphasised that although shoppers appeared “keen” on the technology, it was made clear that they wanted manned tills retained in case they failed to warm to it and that the self service units should be able to accept all sizes of checkouts.

“Throughout the whole process, the customer has said ‘yes’, so it’s been very much dictated by our customers.

“We’re looking to push it even further. We want to take it to the next stage by improving the functionality for customers and taking them to the same levels as staff tills,” he said.

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