The reasons for the failure of the idea of ​​self-service checkouts in stores in the West are named

Just recently, it was assumed that self-service checkouts would revolutionize retail. But this did not happen; retailers and the largest retail chains in the West are abandoning this idea. Many Western hypermarkets and industry giants are planning to get rid of self-checkouts throughout Europe, and many American stores already have a limited number of such checkouts.

Retail giants were planning a revolution in the world of shopping – self-checkouts were supposed to help grow profits, but instead they only bring disappointment. It was assumed that cash registers without a person would provide customers with convenience and speed. Retailers hoped the innovation would usher in a new era of cost savings. Instead, customers continue to stand in lines, and store employees are forced to correct errors at the registers or check documents for goods marked 18+.

“Stores still need employees to help them and service the machines,” a representative of the American retail chain comments on the situation.

From a theoretical point of view, experts note that self-service technology has its advantages for both consumers and businesses, but in most cases it does not live up to expectations.

“It didn’t deliver anything it promised,” explains Christopher Andrews, author of The Overworked Consumer: Checkout, Supermarkets, and the Do-It-Yourself Economy.

He adds that “if stores could get the consumer to think that autonomy is the preferred way to shop, then they could reduce labor costs. But they find that people need help with this, otherwise they will steal things. “Eventually the stores realized they weren’t saving money, they were losing it.”

Many retailers have invested millions, if not billions, of dollars in self-checkout technology, which Christopher Andrews said was first developed back in the 1980s and began appearing in stores in the 1990s. Self-checkout stations aren’t exactly cheap to install in stores, with some experts estimating that a four-checkout system could cost six figures.

Now large retailers in the West are coming up with various ways to save money and stop theft at checkouts. For example, Target limits the number of items customers can purchase on their own at one time. Another American supermarket chain, Walmart, has removed a number of self-checkouts in stores to prevent theft. In the UK, supermarket chain Bouts is also trying to ditch the technology as shoppers complain it is slow and unreliable.

One of the fastest growing retailers in the US, Dollar General, is also reviewing its strategy. Back in 2022, the discount chain actively used self-checkout technology – only one or two employees could meet in their stores. But according to the company’s CEO Todd Vasos, despite the investment, they are now planning to increase the number of employees in the stores “and, in particular, the checkout area.”

“We started to rely too much on self-service in our stores. Now we need to use self-service as an additional means of selling goods, and not the main one,” said Todd Vasos.

According to British publications, merchants who have self-checkouts have profit loss rates more than twice the industry average.

Another problem that stores faced was theft. It is noted that customers may be more tempted not to pay for items when using a self-checkout checkout than when interacting with a human cashier in person.

In a 2021 survey of 1,000 American shoppers, 60 percent of consumers said they prefer to use a self-checkout system over a staffed cash register when given the choice, but 67 percent of respondents experienced a glitch when trying to use the technology.

“It’s not that self-checkout technology is good or bad in itself, but if we try to place an order ourselves one day and realize that it’s not profitable for us, we will refuse to use it,” says Amit Kumar, assistant professor of marketing, who studies behavior. consumers and the decision-making process.

This appears to be the case in many cases as customer dissatisfaction with self-checkout technology grows. But Christopher Andrews believes that no matter what, stores will keep some self-checkout because “they’ve spent billions putting it in stores and hope they can still convince the public to buy through it.”

For shoppers who do decide to do the work themselves, there’s one thing Andrews doesn’t think will change: No matter how ubiquitous the technology becomes, and no matter how accustomed consumers are to using self-checkout, shoppers will likely be stuck most of the time. disappointed.