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Self-service Checkout

option report that 40 percent of transactions are going through the fast lane.

Self-checkout lanes going mainstream

Study shows more shoppers choosing to help themselves

02:17 AM CDT on Tuesday, June 1, 2004

By MARIA HALKIAS / The Dallas Morning News

More U.S. shoppers are choosing self-checkout, and stores with the option report that 40 percent of transactions are going through the fast lane.

No longer a test, self-service shopping is becoming mainstream in supermarkets, drugstores, mass merchants and home improvement centers, with transactions reaching $70 billion this year, up from $42 billion in 2003, according to a study to be released today from IHL Consulting Group of Franklin, Tenn.

Although this year's forecast represents less than 5 percent of U.S. retail sales, acceptance is growing quickly.

By 2007, IHL predicts, self-checkout sales will reach $336 billion as more automated lanes are installed over the next few years.

"We live in an age where self-sufficiency often reigns supreme, and time is at a premium," said Greg Buzek, president of IHL Consulting, a retail industry market analysis and consulting firm. Stores that take the time to educate shoppers on how to use self-checkout are the most successful at it, he said.

Self-checkout systems help retailers compete against giants such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. by moving labor from the checkout lanes to other areas of the store, Mr. Buzek said.

"Those stores can't compete on price and will become Wal-Mart roadkill when their customer service declines.

"Supermarkets that are thriving against Wal-Mart are using the labor to improve the deli and bakery, develop more prepared foods or to have staff available to carry groceries out to the car, and, yes, to staff checkout lanes," he said.

It's a service issue, and for many customers that means getting in and out fast, he said.

"Express lanes in the supermarket treat the worst customers the best. People who come in and spend $15 for groceries are in and out, while the people who are buying $150 in groceries are allowed to wait in line."

Perhaps Wal-Mart realizes that; it has installed self-checkout lanes in more than 1,000 stores. Home Depot Inc. has more than 3,200 lanes. Supermarket operators Kroger Co. and Publix Supermarkets Inc. were among the early adopters.

Albertsons Inc. has taken the idea to the next level with handheld scanners that shoppers carry with them through the aisles. It installed them in its Dallas-Fort Worth stores earlier this year.

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Posted by Craig at June 1, 2004 08:14 PM