Retail: Self-service checkouts increasingly widespread and in demand

In supermarkets, DIY stores and even when shopping for clothes: More and more bricks-and-mortar retail outlets are offering self-checkouts. According to a market survey by the Cologne-based retail research institute EHI, more than 5,000 local stores had a self-checkout option in 2023. This is twice as many as in 2021. Scanning the goods themselves and paying contactlessly is the motto there, although searching for the barcode often takes longer than rummaging around for change. Nevertheless, more and more consumers prefer the do-it-yourself job to waiting in line at the usual checkout with hopefully well-versed staff: More than half (56 percent) of customers in this country are now said to use self-service checkouts, with just under one in five (19 percent) even using them regularly.

This, at least, is the result of an online survey on consumer usage behavior recently published by the market research institute Infas Quo. The survey was commissioned by Euro-Kartensysteme (EKS), which acts as the credit industry's technical service provider for the Girocard system. According to Infas Quo, 1116 people between the ages of 18 and 79 were surveyed online for the study. The results are "online-representative"; the online panel continuously monitors 28,000 people. More than 500 characteristics are available to identify specific subgroups or to provide additional information and feedback in a very short time through short surveys. Nevertheless, there are doubts about the representativeness and informative value of such surveys.

According to the current study, around two thirds (68%) of all users of self-service checkouts scan their products themselves and pay for them at the terminal, particularly for small purchases of up to ten items. Customers most frequently pulled out their Girocard at the more than 16,000 self-service terminals in Germany. Around 57 percent of users also made the debit card of German banks and savings banks the number one choice for cashless payments at self-checkouts. In March, the German Payment Systems Initiative reported that The majority of the population (90 percent) continue to opt for the usual way of shopping at the checkout with staff. However, every second card payer wants to check out more often at self-service terminals in future.

Compulsion to self-service is viewed critically

The process becomes more tedious when age-restricted products such as alcohol or cigarettes end up in the shopping cart. This is because age verification is then mandatory. As a rule, specialist staff have to come to the terminal and check the age of those wishing to purchase to ensure the protection of minors. According to the survey, this prevents one in three (31 percent) from using self-service checkouts. The necessary information is already stored on the Girocard to determine whether the cardholder is 16 or 18 years old. Verification is already possible. Up to now, this has generally been done offline using a security module in the payment terminal. The German banking industry is also testing the age check on mobile devices in a pilot project. The prerequisite for this is a digital Girocard in the cell phone that is designed for mobile payment.

72 percent of "do-it-yourself" scanners favor age confirmation with the debit card to ensure the protection of minors. According to Euro-Kartensysteme, this verification option complements the trend towards digital wallets, which are carried everywhere. However, there is also criticism of the fact that customers are expected to do as much work as possible, particularly in the retail sector, and that operators are taking the outsourcing and automation of business processes to the extreme due to cost pressure and staff shortages. Researchers complain that there is a real compulsion towards self-service. Not every customer tolerates this.

(vbr)