| By 2010 we all expected to have house-robots, | | | | However, the self-service till comes with its |
| hover cars and jet packs, and so it's disappointing | | | | downsides. For one thing, many customers like |
| to get here and find all we get is the Roomba, | | | | dealing with a human being when they come into |
| Toyota Prius and the iPad. However there is one | | | | a shop. What's more, not everyone is tech savvy |
| area where technology has been progressing with | | | | enough to know intuitively how to operate the tills. |
| the futuristic pace we'd expect of the early | | | | Even with the demonstration animations on the |
| twenty-first century. | | | | touch screen, and the audio instructions, many |
| Throughout the industry, many retailers are | | | | people still have trouble working self-service |
| replacing manned tills with automated equivalents. | | | | systems. This can cause delays, slowing queues |
| Shop assistants chatting about weather as they | | | | down in the very way these tills were designed |
| serve customers are being replaced by the calm | | | | to avoid. |
| but firm insistence that there is an "Unexpected | | | | On top of this, in the age of the |
| item in bagging area". | | | | environmentally-conscious Bag For Life, the finely |
| But are these new systems the way of the | | | | tuned scales used to verify customers' purchases |
| future, or are they doomed to go the way of the | | | | mean that often customers are forced to use |
| Segway? | | | | the disposable plastic bags lest they incur the |
| EVERY LITTLE HELPS | | | | wrath of the "Unexpected Item in Bagging Area" |
| The self-service checkout is certainly growing in | | | | alert. |
| popularity. In the UK, Tesco has self-service | | | | For these reasons and others, self-service has |
| counters in 256 stores, where they are | | | | proven unpopular with the shopping public. In a |
| responsible for a quarter of all transactions. | | | | survey by Fatcheese found that 48 percent of |
| Last October, Tesco went a step further and | | | | people asked thought self-service checkouts were |
| introduced an Express store in Northampton | | | | a nightmare. 46 percent said that items wouldn't |
| where customers were served by only one | | | | scan properly. 13 percent complained about having |
| member of staff and a host of self-service tills. | | | | to do all the work, and 12 percent said they |
| Sainsbury's is following suit, with a growing 220 | | | | always had to get help. |
| stores offering self-service, and more set to | | | | For this reason, manned tills aren't quite consigned |
| follow. Wal-Mart has had self-service checkout | | | | to the history books just yet. |
| lanes since 2004. | | | | "We'd never get completely rid of manned tills," a |
| Many believe that the number of self-service tills | | | | Sainsbury's spokesperson has said. "For us it's all |
| is going to double over the next year. So this is | | | | about offering people the choice. Self-service |
| clearly a growing trend, but what is the appeal? | | | | checkouts are very popular with the customers |
| From a retailer's point of view, the first | | | | who use them a lot, but we realize people either |
| advantage is reliability. A self-service checkout will | | | | like them or they don't." |
| deliver the same service to every customer, not | | | | So the best solution for retailers will probably be a |
| getting snippy if they are unpleasant, or bending | | | | hybrid system, a combination of staffed |
| or breaking rules if they are persuasive or | | | | checkouts, and automated ones, which are still |
| abusive. Self-service checkouts can also reduce | | | | being improved. For example, an alternative |
| your staffing requirements, with one member of | | | | system some supermarket chains have taken to |
| staff able to oversee as many as four to six | | | | using involves portable barcode scanners, allowing |
| checkout lanes simultaneously. | | | | customers to scan their products as they tour |
| For the customer self-service tills also provide a | | | | the store, while kiosk-type checkouts are still |
| range of benefits. Self-service checkouts can | | | | being constantly refined and perfected. |
| allow greater numbers of customers to pay and | | | | The day of the completely automated |
| leave with greater speed. Up to six checkout units | | | | supermarket is not upon us yet, not by a very |
| can be fitted into the space of one cashier's | | | | long way. However advanced the interfaces |
| station. Also, many customers prefer to scan and | | | | becomes, they will always lack that human touch. |
| pack their own shopping without having to deal | | | | But we most definitely have not heard the last of |
| with a cashier. | | | | the self-service checkout. |
| OR DOES IT? | | | | |