Woolworths’ bold new ‘front-of-store’ experience amid shift in shopping habits

A major transformation is underway at Woolworths, as shopping habits shift amid a cost of living crisis.

Supermarket giant Woolworths is rolling out a brand “new front-of-store experience” it claims will transform how Australians shop for their groceries.

In the age of automation, the grocery chain said it would be launching a series of reformatted hybrid stores, mixing self-serve and manned registers.

It comes as customers shift towards smaller but more frequent basket sizes, with shoppers pushing a fuller trolley still preferring to use staffed check-outs.

“As customer buying habits have shifted, we are seeing more frequent, smaller basket sizes, and a strong customer preference for a quicker and easier self-serve checkout experience,” a Woolworths spokesperson said.

“For a basket with 20 items or less, 83 per cent of our customers choose self-service check-outs, whereas for a basket with more than 20 items, the majority of our customers select a staffed checkout.”

Woolworths new format store in Spotswood in Melbourne's southwest. Picture: Supplied

The store includes multiple manned checkouts. Picture: Supplied

“But, we know there are some customers who prefer to be served by a team member and we’re gradually rolling out a new front-of-store experience where we are using data to ensure we have the right choices of check-outs for customers in each local community.”

The spokesperson said the new format would provide “a great customer experience for customers to continue to be served by” staff members if they choose, and that express lanes were already in about 800 stores.

Pictures provided of a newly opened Woolworths store in Spotswood in Melbourne's southwest show dual service desks with multiple staffed conveyor belt check-outs, as well as the now more typical self-service kiosks.

It comes as both major supermarkets adapt to a population increasingly pinched by cost of living pressures, including changes to loyalty schemes and discounts and a continuation of Covid-era “direct-to-boot” service programs.

Originally published as Woolworths’ bold new ‘front-of-store’ experience amid shift in shopping habits