Study finds self-service erodes customer loyalty
Despite a new study that has found that self-service checkouts erode customer loyalty, Australia’s largest retailers continue to stick with the divisive technology.
Despite a new study that has found that self-service checkouts erode customer loyalty, Australia’s largest retailers continue to stick with the divisive technology.
The research, from Drexel University in the US, resulted from five studies which found that customers are more likely to remain loyal to a store when using a staffed checkout.
“Our findings indicate that self-checkout systems, despite their advantages in terms of speed, ease of use, and cost reduction, can result in lower customer loyalty compared to regular checkout systems, especially when the number of purchased items is relatively high (e.g. more than 15 items),” said report author Dr Yanlin Huang.
Dr Huang said customers expected to be served by stores and the extra effort required to check out and bag purchases ran contrary to this.
But the research is unlikely to deter Australian retailers who have invested heavily in rolling out self-service checkouts.
In the past, Woolworths and Coles have both shut down pressures to abandon self-service.
Following news last November that up-market British grocery retailer Booths would remove self-service checkouts from 26 of its 28 stores, the major Australian supermarkets backed their continued use of self-service.
“Millions of transactions are made using our self-service checkouts every single day,” a Woolworths spokesperson told news.com.au, adding that “customer feedback shows our self-serve checkouts are popular for their convenience and speed”.
A spokesperson for Coles said self-serve checkouts were a “great option” for customers as they deliver “convenience and efficiency”.
“Because of this they are the checkout of choice for more than two in three customers, and we continue to see these numbers increase,” the spokesperson said.
“Over the past year, we have seen greater customer satisfaction and uptake in our self-service options.”
In the US, major retailers such as Walmart, Costco and Wegmans are among those revising their self-checkout strategies.
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