Eat Drink
Published November 11, 2023, 9:29 am ET
Go and beep yourself.
Customers of popular British grocery chain Booths learned this week that the company is abolishing self-service checkouts, just six years after introducing them at its 28 Tony stores, mostly located in the north of England.
The decision bucks a decades-long trend in which people at the top of supermarkets and other large retailers are becoming increasingly rare – a shift that most industry observers say is unstoppable.
“We’re not big fans of self-checkouts,” Booths managing director Nigel Murray told British trade publication The Grocer. “We pride ourselves on our great customer service and that can’t be achieved through a robot.”
The do-it-yourself approach initially seemed like an attractive way to manage labor costs and increase efficiency, Murray said. However, he also pointed out that the technology can be tricky and impact the shopping experience.
The upscale Booths chain has decided to eliminate self-checkout lanes out of concern for the customer experience. Alamy Stock Photo A self-checkout chain at a Booths store, which the company will abolish. Alamy Stock Photo
Booths was founded in Blackpool in 1847, ostensibly with the philosophy of “selling the best goods available in attractive stores staffed by first class staff”.
A company spokesman told The Guardian that the company will remove the controversial lanes from all of its stores except two in the tourist Lake District, where staff can be overwhelmed in the warmer months.
“We believe that colleagues serving customers provide a better customer experience and have therefore made the decision to eliminate self-checkouts in most of our stores,” the spokesperson said.
“We based this not only on what we think is right, but also on feedback from our customers. Delighting customers with our warm northern welcome is part of our DNA and we continue to invest in our people to ensure we stay true to this ethos.”
The Tony chain of stores across northern England is bucking an industry trend that some observers believe is inevitable. Alamy Stock Photo
The news comes at a time when other retailers have publicly disclosed their own issues with automating the checkout and checkout process – Walmart recently removed self-checkout options from some of its stores without explanation, while Wegmans, a popular grocer, with Based in Rochester and with two branches in New York City and a handful in surrounding suburbs, a popular self-checkout app recently shut down, citing abuse.
“SCAN users have told us they love the app and the convenience it provides,” Wegmans said in a statement to The New York Times. “Unfortunately, the losses we are experiencing prevent us from continuing to provide it in its current condition.”
According to a 2016 study cited by the Gray Lady, retailers in the U.S. and Europe that offer self-checkout options experienced a loss rate of about 4 percent — more than double the industry average.
King Charles (then Prince Charles) visits a Booths store in Kendal, Cumbria in 2008.Shutterstock
The automated checkout trend has been blamed in part for the so-called “loneliness epidemic” that is said to be plaguing some Western countries, where a conversation with a cashier may be the only human interaction some people experience in a day.
While self-checkout options were first introduced around twenty years ago, many companies embraced the concept heavily during the pandemic, as customers suddenly became anxious to minimize contact with other people.
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Originally posted 2023-11-11 15:52:13.