by BLACK ENTERPRISE Editors
Three primary factors are said to have changed the minds of retail executives in regard to self-checkout.
The era of the “unpaid cashier” may be coming to an end as retail giants Walmart, Target, and Costco roll back self-checkout kiosks.
Self-checkout kiosks experienced an aggressive expansion in the last decade; however, the retail industry is shifting back toward traditional, staffed checkout lanes, The New York Post reported. The change marks a significant admission by major corporations that the self-service experiment has failed to deliver on its promised efficiency, instead creating friction for customers and significant financial losses for the companies.
Three primary factors are said to have changed retail executives’ minds about self-checkout. A critical driver is the increase in inventory loss. Self-checkout lanes have become a major source of product loss or shrinkage. Retailers found that without a human eyes-on approach, “mis-scans” of high-value items were costing billions annually.
Walmart is removing kiosks entirely in select test markets (including several in the Midwest and Northeast), replacing them with “full-service” lanes to improve the experience, the Irish Star reported. This move toward “human-centric” service in the retail sector mirrors a global trend of reassessing automated systems in favor of community and reliability.
RELATED CONTENT: Study: More Customers Giving Themselves 5-Finger Discount At Self-Checkout
Source: Black Enterprise
