News

""Mini shoppers"" will embrace self-service

January 10, 2006

LONDON - Sixty-six percent of people say they want self-service at the checkout to make shopping faster and more convenient as they fit more "mini shops" into their busy lifestyles, according to research published by global technology company NCR Corp. Forty-two percent of shoppers are either very likely or likely to choose stores that will offer this self-service option over ones that do not.

NOP research, commissioned for NCR, shows that U.K. shoppers visit stores three times a week on average. Over 50 percent of shoppers make three or more short visits to stores each week to buy a few items and reducing the duration of these short trips is a key priority. The top reasons for multiple visits to stores by all people are to get fresh produce (74 percent), the fact they only have a short time during the day to shop (48 percent) and demands on time during busy shopping seasons (46 percent).

"As people conduct more frequent shopping trips it will become increasingly important for them to get in and out of stores faster, especially during the busy shopping periods," said Alberto Camuri, NCR's vice president for retail solutions in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. "Online shopping has given consumers more control, convenience and spontaneity in how they manage their shopping. So it is no surprise to see similar expectations for self-service technology in the store."

The research reveals that shoppers want a range of self-service technologies to speed up the store experience and increase convenience. Some 56 percent want to use self-service to pre-order items, such as deli items, and collect them later in the store. Fifty-eight percent of people want to be able to order items that are out of stock. Approximately 66 percent want to use self-service checkout that enables them to scan, bag and pay for items themselves.

The survey findings on self-checkout are backed by the experience of leading retailers who have introduced the technology. For example, Tesco has over 1 million customers using self-checkout units each week across 220 stores. "Self-checkout improves service for customers in our stores," said Attila Winstanley, productivity director for Tesco. "Our customers like the option to check out themselves to the extent that we are introducing self-checkout in many more stores."