Reassessing your self-checkout strategy? Here are 3 things to consider.

As retailers and shoppers are trying to limit face-to-face interaction due to COVID-19, it’s expected that self-checkout will become even more ubiquitous. According to RBR’s report, “Global EPOS and Self Checkout in 2020”, in 2019, shipments of self-checkout solutions increased by 52% to a new record high. That’s 120,000 shipped globally, driven by demand in the United States. But as the new normal continues to take shape, are retailers optimizing their self-checkout strategy to address their shoppers’ changing expectations? How can retailers develop and maintain a successful plan that focuses on the shopper’s experience?

Be ready to measure, test and adjust
To create a successful self-checkout program, retailers must put system health, strategy health, and shopper value at the core of the strategy. This includes monitoring key performance indicators like intervention rates, utility rates, and other security indicators to understand gaps and areas that could be improved. Using data intelligently can help retailers learn how customers and associates use the technology and how to improve their experiences. Using self-checkout as a flexible resource can increase the number of transaction points per front-end and parallel processing. Tools and best practices training can keep associates up to date on common issues and how to resolve them, resulting in fewer interventions and faster checkout.

Understand when to apply task and fraud management tools
Emerging frictionless technology can help retailers keep the balance between friction for shoppers and risk for themselves. Technology like IoT sensors, cameras, weight security, item tagging and RFID help shoppers look up objects more quickly and accurately, helping retailers maintain their profits, reduce friction for shoppers and keep valuable product from walking out the door due to product-related fraud. Deploying a Mobile Operations Manager gives store associates a holistic view of the checkout process by providing real-time transaction status from anywhere in the store. This helps store associates manage exceptions without leaving their station, expedite the checkout process and limit face-to-face interactions. For more about how retailer can use technology solutions to balance friction and risk with self-checkout, check out this whitepaper.

Leverage professional services
Implementing self-checkout solutions successfully requires a holistic, end-to-end focus. To best understand the tools available to help retailers optimize their self-checkout solution, having a dedicated partner in that process is critical. Toshiba offers a broad suite of global services – consulting, professional, and managed services – to ensure that retailers’ technology is working at its best, from testing and implementation to enhancing current and integrating future solutions.

To learn more about how retailers can analyze automated checkout to maintain a customer-centric store environment, read the IDC Spotlight, "Optimizing Automated Checkout for an Excellent Customer Experience".