Retailers and restaurants love to put off consumer work on the grounds that it’s somehow better for them. It’s like when you order a bagel and a cup of coffee from Panera Bread and get tricked into a blank bagel, packets of frozen butter or cream cheese and an empty cup of coffee.
Restaurant frames that allow you to customize your order. In reality, it’s just Panera skimping on the work and making you do things restaurants usually do for you.
Let me personalize my coffee in an app like Starbucks (SBUX) – Get a free report is customer service. Handing me an empty cup and directing me to a carafe with a milk and sugar station is the exact opposite.
Self-checkout is on the same principle. If target (TGT) – Get a free report or Walmart WMT has a few stations where people in a hurry can opt out, which is very different from replacing your cashiers with automated payment stations. It’s not about convenience, it’s about saving money.
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Theft is a symptom, not the real self-pay problem
Walmart CEO Doug McMillon recently gave an interview in which he blamed self-checkout for an increase in “shrinkage,” which is retail code for theft. Realistically, the tighter economy has probably also led to an increase in shoplifting, but self-checkout is practically begging customers to steal. It’s very easy not to scan an item (on purpose or by accident) and cash-strapped customers could easily be tempted to use a few items.
“If you provide an easy method to steal, people will take advantage of the opportunity,” commented Ken Morris, Managing Partner of Cambridge Retail Advisors. RetailWire.
And, yes, self-checkout has increased shoplifting, but it’s also gone from a convenience for customers to a cost-effective method for stores. It’s about automating an area where people are doing a better job in many ways.
When a retailer automates inventory or shelf stocking, it does not impact their relationship with their customers. Do the same at a touchpoint like checkout and you’ve sacrificed a chance to connect with your customers.
Retail is all about relationships
Although Walmart and Target are not local neighborhood stores, they largely serve a neighborhood. Cashiers and customer service staff largely come from the community where the store operates and it is only natural that over time a relationship will form between store staff and customers.
It really is a simple equation. Most communities have a Walmart, a Target, and a grocery chain or two. As a buyer, value is a factor, but so is customer service and having a connection to a store.
If someone knows that one retailer is more helpful with more staff on the floor and checkouts manned by efficient, friendly people than another, that may well influence where someone shops. Nobody cares whether the back office is run by robots or if the cleaning is automated.
Human interaction and linking cannot be automated. Certain tools can help in this relationship, but in the end, people matter.
Some consumers may prefer automated checkout, but having to scan your own item is a hassle, not a service. Walmart and Target have all sorts of ways to automate, but it makes sense to have people in jobs where interaction creates a better experience.
Automate things people can’t see and engage as many human beings as possible to help customers and build connections. Put your managers in the store as problem solvers while ensuring you have enough staff at checkouts to meet demand. Offer self-checkout on a limited basis for busy people and introverts who aren’t looking to interact with anyone, but aren’t giving up a key opportunity to build the relationship between your store and your customers.
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