A consumer shopping survey sponsored by Shekel Scales revealed that 90 percent of consumers believe technology will improve the overall shopping experience.
While nearly 60 percent of consumers cited technology that speeds and simplifies the self-checkout process, more than 30 percent of respondents expressed a desire for technology that helps them get in and out of the store as fast and as easily as possible.
Conducted through SurveyMonkey, the survey measures consumer perceptions and attitudes on autonomous and frictionless shopping technology, such as self-checkout, smart carts and vending machines.
Other key findings of the survey include:
Self-checkout
- Fifty percent of consumers cited overrides or cashier intervention as the top concern with the self-checkout experience; 25 percent of respondents reported difficulties entering produce items and baked good items.
- Ninety percent of consumers said a self-checkout system that could identify produce items would be helpful during the checkout process.
Smart cart
- Fifty percent of consumers said they were not familiar with the concept of a smart cart. When provided with the definition of “a shopping cart that automatically performs checkout when items are added to the cart,” 74 percent of respondents said they were very likely or somewhat likely to try a smart cart if the technology was available to them.
- The possibility of recording inaccurate transactions (60 percent) and potential technical difficulties with using a smart cart (40 percent) were cited together as the top barriers to smart cart adoption in a majority of responses.
Vending
- Consumers cited limited product selection (51 percent), a lack of fresh products (39 percent) and no customer service (33 percent) as the top three frustrations associated with vending machines.
- The inability to return items or purchase more than one item at a time also appeared in a combined 40 percent of responses.
“We first conducted a similar survey two years ago at NRF 2020, and this year’s results remove any lingering speculation as to whether consumers truly want technology to improve their shopping experience. All in all, consumers want to get in and get out as quickly and easily as possible,” said Nir Leshem, CEO of Shekel.
“Whether retailers achieve that goal by offering faster, easier self-checkout or new smart carts, consumers are willing to adapt and will openly embrace any technology required to satisfy their needs. This marks a critical time for retailers to evaluate their autonomous and frictionless shopping strategies and how retail technology, like Shekel’s, can play a valuable role in enhancing the customer experience and capturing greater market share.”
At NRF 2023, Shekel is introducing retailers to its new smart cart technology that enables a first-of-its-kind frictionless shopping solution to simplify consumer shopping experiences and increase security and legal-for-trade weighing for retailers. The solution weighs fresh produce and packaged items, satisfying the market need for automated product recognition.
Shekel will have the full survey results, as well as several breakthrough retail technology solutions including the new Smart Cart solution in booth No. 4045 during NRF 2023.
