Self-checkout psychology: Don’t scare away shoppers

Retailers really want shoppers to use self-checkout. For them, self-checkout is a great opportunity to reduce staffing costs. You would think, then, that they would do all they could to make self-checkout a great experience, one that would appeal to its best customers. This isn’t so, and many retailers clearly underestimate the psychological deterrents of self-checkout.

How about embarrassment? When customers get any scan wrong, they have to seek help. Many of them can’t help but feel that all eyes are on them and their failure. And then there’s true humiliation, when the associate who was turned to for help ends up questioning the shopper in a way that can feel like a public accusation of shoplifting.

I understand the retailer's point of view. Shoplifters do find the self-checkout lane tempting. (Although, interestingly enough, they are mistaken about this, since self-checkout lanes have more cameras focused on them and more anti-theft mechanisms in place than staffed lanes do. But not every thief believes that.) Nonetheless, associates need to be trained not just to intercept shoplifters but also to handle these sorts of interactions in a non-accusatory, professional manner.

And it would really help if the technology worked better. Survey results released July 21 by the Harris Poll — underwritten by a self-checkout vendor, unsurprisingly — showed that almost 75% of shoppers said that they avoided self-checkout. And “nearly 45% of consumers who avoid self-checkout do so because of technical or barcode scanning difficulties.”

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