Since 2021 I live in the City of Orlando, Florida. In this state the popularity of supermarkets like Walmart and Costco is great. You can find them in almost every neighborhood of the city. Right now, I am living in the Maitland neighborhood. Here I have 3 supermarkets (Walmart, Costco, and Win-Dixie) that are between 10- and 15-minutes driving distance from my home. 2 of those supermarkets have the self-checkout service. As a client, I thought that this service would make my life easier. Well, I just must go in, buy what I need, pay, and leave. But over time, I discover that I was avoiding these types of services and preferring to go to a checkout with a service agent. Since most of the time the self-checkout services produced some kind of problems for me. For example: Every time I made grocery purchases for the whole month, and I was going to make my payment in this new system, I had to place all my products in the cashier compartment, which counts the number of products you carry. This compartment allows a small limit of bags, and they must be necessarily put there since the system does not continue with the transaction if you scanned the product and did not put it in the proper place. When I no longer had space to continue placing more bags, I took them out and put them in my cart to continue with the scanning process, but the system refused to continue if I removed the bags. Making the process more delayed and complicated since it had no more space in the compartment.
Another great example that makes me avoid using the self-checkout system is that many times the service does not accept cash. There is also the fact that to pay for certain products you need the assistance of an employee, since the system asks you for a code, and you must wait until the agent comes to your cashier to help you, which wastes time.
I got to thinking that I couldn’t be the only one having problems with this service, which was presented to consumers as something innovative that would make the payment process easier for the consumer and the company. So, the first thing I did was go to these 3 supermarkets that are in my neighborhood. I began to analyze which consumers did use the self-checkout service, and which ones preferred the common system with a cashier who processes the transaction for the consumer.
The first day of analysis I went to Costco, and I noticed that there was a longer line at the self-checkout service than the normal checkout. I also noted that 5 consumers were moved from the self-checkout system to be attended by a cashier, since the products they carried were too many. which would produce some kind of problem with the machine. I decided to ask these 5 consumers what their experience was when they were moved from the self-checkout system to a regular checkout, and 4 of them were somewhat dissatisfied as they couldn’t use the system that the supermarket offered to them. On the other hand, they were happy because the Costco agent noticed that consumers had very large purchase orders and saved them from having a bad time with the machine and offered them to be attended with a cashier immediately without having to wait in line again. Also, I did approach to consumers to use the common cashier method, and I asked why they didn’t use the self-checkout system. The answer that most Costco consumers gave me was that they had already experienced this type of problem, and every time they make large purchases, they know that the best payment service is to go to a cashier. These consumers only use the self-checkout system for small purchases.
The second day, I went to Walmart and used the same method, analyze consumers and conduct surveys. A large part of its consumers is forced to use the self-checkout method no matter how big the purchase is, since most of the time the common payment system is closed, and only self-checkout is open. Although there is always a Walmart agent in charge of the self-checkout area to provide immediate help to the customer if they have a problem with the system. Walmart consumers are dissatisfied with the services since they should always request help from the agent because either the purchase is very large, the machine needs some special permission to be able to process products, or it presents some type of error when processing payments.
I asked Costco and Walmart customers what they thought of the Win-Dixie supermarket and the fact that they have not yet implemented the self-checkout system in all supermarkets. Consumers concluded that they often prefer to go to Win-Dixie to do their grocery. Since they don’t have to deal with this type of payment system, it also offers better prices, discounts, and rewards for purchases. These consumers now go purely to Costco and Walmart for the specific products they need.
Win-Dixie’s customers are pleased that the supermarket has not implemented this system as it makes their lives easier and creates employment. I spoke to a cashier at this supermarket whom we will call Anita as I request that she not be mentioned in the study. Anita told me that There are many Win-Dixie supermarkets that have the same self-checkout system, but it is only for customers who have express purchases. Customers with large purchases are always directed to the normal cashier system. Win-Dixie also told us that not all supermarkets have a self-checkout system since the machines are expensive and represent more problems than solutions.
Another point that they took into consideration is that not all their clients would be good at using this technology, which would cause them discomfort. That is why for them it is always important that if the supermarket has self-checkout machines also have common open cashier so that the consumer can choose the system with which they feel comfortable. After doing my analysis and asking some questions I was ready to create my survey. The same one that I did on 3 different days of the same week. I was not surprised to see that out of 10 people surveyed, 8 prefer the common payment system.
Carrying out research on the Internet about the popularity of the self-checkout system in the United States, I found that this system offered to facilitate the payment process for its consumers is increasingly rejected by consumers. It is important to emphasize that the increase in thefts due to using self-checkout has occurred since the machine cannot detect which products are being processed and which are not. One of the solutions that supermarkets must improve the popularity of this service is to continue improvising this system looking for more technology and methods. To be able to blame what the consumer really wants, an effective and efficient service).
For me this is not the greatest solution at all. The consumer is having problems with the technology that is being offered and is avoiding using it. Supermarkets should analyze if the system is understandable and friendly to the consumer. On the other hand, and what I think is the most difficult thing is to educate the customer. From my own experience, once a client is taught to use a platform or service, the first few times they will be fearful but once they feel confident with the system, they will not ask for help from an agent again.
Sandra Colombani Walmart Employee, PH: 407-504-8083
