Booths' Check Out From Self-Service Tills

Author: Finn McConway

In this blog post, we explore the implications of Booths' decision, the wider trend in the industry, and what shoppers expect and want from their checkout experience.

Self-Checkout Vs Manned

It all seemed to make so much sense, especially as we collectively hurtle towards an increasingly digital and automated world. Then came Covid and all the associated challenges and legacy it left. Self-checkout seemed to be even more of a helping hand as we sought limited interaction.Off the back of that we have since seen a huge acceleration over the past few years with self-checkout and scan as you go being rolled out at pace across the board whether we like it or not.

Tesco caused a stir back in June as per my article looking at this very subject with their commitment to roll out more self-service tills across their biggest stores.Ken Murphy the Tesco CEO himself declared “We genuinely believe, at the end of the day, it provides a better customer experience. We have found it works very well for us in the shops once customers have got used to it.”

On the flipside, a quarter of a million Tesco shoppers clearly didn’t share Ken’s enthusiasm for a supposedly “better customer experience” by joining PatMcCarthy’s petition railing against this expansion of self-service, card-only tills in its stores.

However, this had done little to dent the continued roll out of self-service checkout (or Tesco’s own market share which is up by almost half a percentage point YoY). Although there is seemingly a cost from a customer satisfaction perspective as The Grocer reported back in July. Checkouts were picked out as the biggest driver in another tumble in average customer service scores in store, which fell by a further 1.2ppts to 13.9 out of 20 in the Grocer 33 annual mystery shopping survey.

“Checkouts proved the biggest culprit…dissatisfaction over the amount of time waiting in queues at manned checkouts reported by our mystery shoppers soared. Whereas shoppers last year most commonly reported no queue at checkouts, this year most reported a wait of up to three minutes amid a move by supermarkets to introduce more self-checkouts, leading to widespread complaints about cuts to the number of staffed tills”.

With greater exposure to the technology and a sense of it being forced on shoppers, there has been some inevitable pushback as the 250k strong petition proved. However, it is a nuanced topic of debate, as clearly a significant number of shoppers are comfortable with the technology and fully embrace some of the benefits and efficiencies that the retailers clearly champion.

Booths Go Against The Grain

All of this has made the bold move by the beloved Northern premium retailer Booths who have made the headlines with their announcement that they are very much bucking the trend and removing their self-checkout machines from 26 of their 28 stores all the more interesting. They will instead be reverting to store colleagues and increasing manned checkouts.

This is part of a clear commitment to champion the customer service that Booths are famous for, over and above the championed efficiencies (and of course cost savings!) of self-service technology.

As Booths MD Nigel Murray himself remarked “We’re not great fans of self-checkouts, we pride ourselves on great customer service and you can’t do that through a robot.”

This is a perfect example of the importance of knowing your shopper and not just blindly following the crowd or being wholly governed by operational drivers or enticed by drinking the Kool Aid of potential savings.

In retail, especially in the UK landscape where we have such a rich breadth of established players all playing specific roles with distinct propositions and heritage, it’s not often you have simple binary decisions to choose from and certainly not a one size fits all approach. (Although the big 4 certainly had a stab at it with the crushingly dull Aldi & Lidl obsession of a few years ago that thankfully now seems to be subsiding).

What may be the right thing for Tesco and most of their stores and shoppers, may not be the right thing for Booths and their shoppers. All too often shoppers and consumers can be blithely bucketed together. We’ve all been guilty of it in segmentation work or through demographics etc.

So yes, Booths are very much bucking the trend and it is certainly far too early to say whether this is inspired maverick genius or a short-sighted mistake, but one thing is for certain. Booth’s bravery and dedication to doing the right thing by their customers as they see and hear it by maintaining the more personal connection and their quality of service should be applauded.

Finding Balance

Perhaps Tesco lurched too far in one direction in replacing so many manned checkouts in their biggest superstores (as a father of 2 kids aged 6 and 2 the thought of doing a big fortnightly shop with a full trolley & then putting it through self-scan is already making me break out in a cold sweat. Absolutely no chance!) and likewise potentially Booths may have with such a bold, immediate move.

Logic dictates you feel, that there should be room for both finding a happy equilibrium and offering genuine choice and convenience for shoppers based on their circumstances and mission. Whether that be small basket/convenience vs family big shop or elderly and disabled shoppers as well as young, cash vs card, the list goes on.

The fact Nigel Murray told the Grocer it “made sense” to keep the technology at two of their busiest Booths’ stores in Windermere and Keswick in the Lake District tourist hot spot which could get “quite busy” if and when large numbers of tourists inevitably turn up at the same time, in a way shows the importance of finding a balance.

Booths have clearly taken on board their shopper’s feedback. I reflect on my own anecdotal view of why do people still shop in a store rather than the infinitely easier online shopping (which is also more complex and less profitable for the retailers)? To have customer service, support, human interaction, to be able to pay with cash, have help packing their bags, to cater for disabilities/access, the list goes on.

There’s a difference between quick convenience on a smaller shop vs “the big shop”. Once these human elements and the convenience are stripped away, it is also removing some of the benefits that make these superstores appealing vs just doing an online shop or going to the discounters where you know you can be through a checkout relatively quickly, albeit having your shopping flung at you faster than a speeding bullet.

What Did Our Consumer Panel Think?

In the spirit of Booths, we decided to ask our dedicated 20,000 strong consumer panel for their thoughts on self-serve vs manned checkouts to see what they thought in light of the debate that has been sparked on their decision and the future of self-service customer checkouts.

consumer poll

The results are very close with 41% preferring manned checkouts, 5% more than the 36% who prefer self-scan, which brings me back to finding a happy balance and giving shoppers the choice, they clearly want.

It will be an interesting one to see how things progress. Recent developments have shown that the tide may be turning on self-service tills in their current guise. Aside from Booths here in the UK, the likes of US supermarket giants such as Walmart and Albertsons have also been removing self-checkouts, citing concerns about theft and the impact on customer service. The Atlantic covered this from a US perspective superbly in their article Self-Checkout Is a Failed Experiment.

The move away from self-service tills perhaps reflects a growing realisation that technology is not always the obvious solution, and that in some cases, that personal touch and human interaction Booths are desperate to maintain, are crucial for an enhanced shopping experience. The importance of staff interactions in building brand loyalty and improving store experience as well as the role of checkout staff in ensuring a smooth and hassle-free experience for customers can be huge.

However, the debate about the future of customer checkouts goes beyond the mere pros and cons of self-service technology. It also relates to broader trends in retail, such as the rise of mobile payments, online shopping, as well as click-and-collect (I’ve never got this personally but could just be me!).

As retailers seek to meet ever changing customer demands, they are looking for new ways to streamline the checkout process and make it more convenient and efficient for shoppers. This may include the adoption of new technologies such as mobile scanning and payment apps, or the redesign of stores to better support burgeoning technologies. The key is to find the right balance between automation and personalisation, and to adapt to the evolving needs and preferences of customers.

Flexible And Responsive Is The Way Forward

The current guise of self-service checkouts are likely the first step in how increased automation looks, as demonstrated by Tesco’s GetGo stores which are looking to bring an enhanced ““seamless and convenient” shopping experience, Aldi and their Shop & Go store formats and of course first movers (& closers it seems!) Amazon with their Amazon Fresh stores. Could the lessons and many frustrations of the current self-scan checkouts be ironed out with no need to fear the spectacularly sensitive bagging area if you have the temerity to move in the slightest anything you’ve already packed, or the barrage of age verification required by forlorn staff from alcohol to paracetamol or matches!

In conclusion, Booths' decision to remove self-scan tills and checkout technology reflects their personal prioritisation of customer service and human interaction over cost-saving technology. While self-service checkouts have their benefits, they are not always the best option for everyone.

Retailers need to be flexible and responsive to their own shoppers demands, adopting new technologies where appropriate but also recognising the importance of the in-store shopper experience and the role it can play in building brand loyalty. The future of customer checkouts in retail is likely to be a hybrid of human and tech, with a focus on convenience, speed, and satisfaction for the customer.