They’re considered the most hated words in retail and are guaranteed to have time-strapped grocery shoppers walking the aisles in frustration.
But shoppers at supermarket chain Booths will no longer be annoyed by “unexpected items in the packing area” as the supermarket chain bans most of its automated checkouts and reverts to manned checkouts.
The move comes after customers told the company they valued contact with employees.
The retailer, nicknamed the “Waitrose of the North” as all but two of its 28 stores are located in the north of England, will eliminate self-scanning devices in all but two of its supermarkets.
Nigel Murray, director of Boots, said: BBC Lancashire: “Our customers have been telling us for a long time that the automated scanning machines we have in our stores can be slow, unreliable and, of course, impersonal.
“We have quite a lot of loose items in our warehouse – fruit, vegetables and baked goods – and once you do a self-scan you have to do a visual check and some customers don’t know anyone else.” For example, Apple versus another.
“It causes a big stir and as soon as you put alcohol in your cart, someone has to come and check that you are the right age.”
Boots has 16 stores in Lancashire and branches in Yorkshire and Cheshire. The two stores in Keswick and Windermere in Cumbria will support self-service during “peak times,” the report said.
The company, founded in 1847, said its customer service colleagues will provide the best customer experience.
A company spokesman said: “We base this not only on what we think is right, but also on feedback from our customers.” this time to meet high demand.
“Boots’ core philosophy is: ‘Sell the best products available in attractive stores with first-class staff.’ this ethos.”
The network is believed to be the first in Britain to combat the spread of the machines, which have become widespread since their invention in Florida in the 1980s.
The move is bold as a recent 2021 Canadian study found that self-checkout is becoming the preferred option for all customers for the first time. 53.2 per cent of Canadians said they plan to regularly use automated checkout systems in the future. Among young people, this figure rose to 60.1 percent. Before the pandemic, a similar study found that less than 35 percent of customers were willing to use self-checkout.
Supermarket workers hailed as heroes during the pandemic have received a pay rise as retailers fear they will lose workers to competitors. But supermarkets are having difficulty recruiting staff and automation is being seen as a solution, regardless of whether customers like it.
Academic doctor. Sylvain Charlebois, a professor of food distribution and policy at Dalhousie University who conducted the Canadian study, said that while the move to automation could save labor costs, it could still cause problems for supermarkets.
“We ask our clients to do more work without compensation. Decades ago, financial institutions underwent a major transformation with the advent of ATMs. At the time, customers were being asked to do more while at the same time being promised lower bank fees. We know that exactly the opposite happened.
“Unlike banks, working in supermarkets involves food safety. The cost of food and how to deal with it matters a lot to everyone. If self-checkout means higher prices in the future, consumers won’t benefit. But grocers know.
He said supermarkets should consider rewarding or incentivizing people for using such machines – perhaps even by paying for them.
Professor Adrian Beck, a criminologist at the University of Leicester, said the introduction of self-service checkouts was not always “a runaway win for either the retailer or the customer”.
A study last year found that many automated systems contribute to increased losses in stores by providing opportunities for shoppers to steal. The study shows that retailers could suffer an additional 0.5 percent of their sales losses if half of supermarket sales were made through self-checkouts.
Retailers surveyed in the Leicester survey believe that automated wastage is a growing problem; Two-thirds believe this (65%) and one in five believe it is a much bigger problem. In contrast, only one in nine respondents thought the problem would get smaller (11%), while the rest (24%) thought it would remain about the same.
The report shows that a generation of buyers are now very comfortable with the technology, perhaps moving from “cautious and risk-averse” to savvy and opportunity-aware users – the archetypal “I thought I had it” self-scanning security. . scanned.” which is now ingrained in the buyer’s psyche.”