Self Check-Out - Consumers Need Pushing

Use of self check-out lanes in US stores is fairly widespread - 61% of US households have used them already, accordingly to research published by ACNielsen US. However, there are mixed feelings among those who have tried them and a hard core of people not planning to do so.

Roughly a third of users (32%) agree that self check-out lanes are 'great'; half (52%) say they are 'okay' and 16% opt for 'frustrating'. 70% of those who have tried them plan to use them again, but only 25% of those who have never tried the lanes say they plan to do so in the future.

So far larger, higher income, younger, and more educated households are more likely to have tried self check-out lanes.

The research comes from a new ACNielsen Homescan(r) consumer panel survey. Members of the Homescan panel, now numbering 61,500 households and growing to more than twice that number by 2005, are equipped with patented in-home hand-held scanners on which they record purchases of UPC-coded products, prescription medications, and fresh foods/random weight items. This data is combined with complete periodic attitudinal surveys.

Todd Hale, senior vice president of ACNielsen Consumer Insights points out that self-check out is still a relatively new phenomenon - 'so it's good news for retailers that so many households have tried the new lanes. However, retailers who want to grow consumer acceptance, satisfaction, and continued use of the do-it-yourself check-out lanes need to offer shoppers more help in getting comfortable with the process'.

According to Phil Lempert, NBC Today Show food trends editor and a consultant to ACNielsen, 'For many shoppers, self-checkout is intimidating. Retailers must be proactive in demonstrating the units and pointing out the time savings for shoppers. Unfortunately, if one does experience a problem--not having a price ring up correctly, for example, or having to wait for a customer service person to correct a malfunction - odds are they will never return to the self check-out lane again. Consumers have zero tolerance for new technologies that don't meet their needs'.

The research is featured in the November issue of Facts, Figures & the Future, the monthly e-newsletter published by ACNielsen, the Food Marketing Institute, and Phil Lempert - see www.factsfiguresfuture.com for more details.

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas unless otherwise stated.

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