6 in 10 Grocers Say Self-Service Key to Shopper Loyalty

Grocers are noticing that, to win shoppers’ loyalty, they have to offer self-service checkout options.

The Context

Grocers continue to add self-checkout capabilities. Last month, grocery chain Weis Markets, which operates about 200 stores across seven East Coast states, announced that it was implementing Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions’ Elera platform chainwide in a move to improve self-checkout capabilities, along with other point-of-sale (POS) upgrades.

Around the same time, Australian news outlet News.com.au reported that discount grocer Aldi has been expanding its trial of self-checkout kiosks in the country, and Hellertown, Pennsylvania, local publication Saucon Source noted last week that grocery and convenience store chain Wawa has been adding the same.

Plus, Kroger has been expanding the test of its KroGo smart carts created in partnership with Instacart subsidiary Caper. Plus, Amazon has been extending its Just Walk Out cashier-less checkout technology to include non-Amazon-owned grocers.

“We are thrilled to work with Community Groceries to unlock a fast and frictionless experience for their shoppers in Kansas City — one we believe they’ll enjoy very much,” Dilip Kumar, vice president of Amazon Web Services (AWS) Applications, said in a statement at the time. “We’re honored to have them as our first customer in the grocery vertical to launch a Just Walk Out technology and Amazon One-enabled store.”

Small grocers are getting onboard too. In an interview with PYMNTS, Dave Capaldo, director of IT at Previte’s Marketplace, a Massachusetts grocer with two locations, spoke to the potential of the technology.

“We’re looking at [self-checkout] and any technology that [can be] helpful in reducing costs,” Capaldo said.

By the Numbers

Research from PYMNTS’ study “Big Retail’s Innovation Mandate: Convenience And Personalization,” created in collaboration with ACI Worldwide, draws from a survey of 300 major retailers in the U.S. and the U.K., finds that the majority of grocers believe self-service capabilities are key to consumers’ loyalty. Sixty-one percent reported believing that shoppers would be very or extremely likely to switch merchants if self-checkout kiosks were not provided.