According to a survey conducted on behalf of NCR Voyix by Incisiv, 43 percent of retailers have mature self-checkout in place, and an additional 17 percent are further scaling their self-checkout deployments.
The State of the Industry: Self-Checkout in Convenience & Fuel and Food & Grocery Retail study revealed insights from senior executives in convenience, fuel, food and grocery.
SCO adoption rates vary by retail vertical – about half (53 percent) of retailers in the food and grocery segment have mature self-checkout adoption, compared to 34 percent of retailers in convenience and fuel. However, convenience and fuel retailers plan to catch up quickly, with 37 percent piloting or scaling self-checkout deployments.
Executives who have already implemented self-checkout in their stores report benefits for retailers and shoppers, including:
- Seventy-nine percent say it provides better customer experience;
- Seventy-five percent say the tech enhanced store layout and space utilization;
- Fifty-eight percent say it’s lowered labor costs; and
- Fifty-one percent believe that it provides improvements in its operational efficiency.
“Self-checkout is now essential for retailers aiming to provide a better and more convenient checkout, while also freeing up employees for other engaging and critical tasks like helping customers in the aisles or keeping inventory stocked,” said Eric Schoch, EVP and president of retail at NCR Voyix.
“NCR Voyix will continue to lead the industry in SCO deployments and enable retailers to optimize their store technology for faster, frictionless customer experiences.”
The survey also polled retail executives about common technology challenges they face in their stores:
- Forty-eight percent reported it taking more than a month to roll out a standard bug fix or update at self-checkout terminals; and
- Ninety-four percent of retailers encounter challenges implementing simultaneous software updates across their store network.
“A key way that NCR Voyix sees retailers solving these challenges and bridging the gap between agile digital channels and physical stores is by adopting a robust retail edge infrastructure in their stores,” Schoch said.
“Between the adoption of SCO and edge technology, retailers are well on their way to meeting today’s challenging consumer preferences and operational demands,” said Giri Agarwal, Incisiv’s chief strategy officer.
“It will be the retailers who can match the swiftness of digital experiences in physical stores today that will be well prepared for tomorrow’s new opportunities for growth and evolution.”
About Incisiv
Incisiv is an industry insights firm that helps retailers and brands navigate digital disruption in their industry. The company offers consumer industry executives responsible for digital transformation a platform to share and learn in a non-competitive setting and the tools necessary to improve digital maturity, impact and profitability.
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