Fast Lanes and Price Checks: Navigating Consumer Sentiment Towards Self-Checkout

S1E4 Speed, Convenience, and Choices: Self-Checkout Perspectives

Mar 06, 2025

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Fast Lanes and Price Checks: Navigating Self-Checkout

Welcome to the latest issue and episode of the Retail Razor Data blades! Today’s topic takes us on a journey through the rapidly evolving world of self-checkout systems, with insights brought to us by Georgina Nelson, CEO of TruRating, who joined our hosts, Ricardo Belmar and Casey Golden, for quick discussion.

Thanks to TruRatings impressive 80% response rate at the point-of-sale, enabled by a simple rotating question directly on the POS pinpad, Georgina was able to give us a better understanding of consumer sentiment towards the self-checkout experience.

Unpacking Consumer Sentiment

With the choices now available in most retailers between self-checkout and cashier-assisted checkout, TruRating investigated with their retail partners what truly matters to the consumer.

Research reveals that 65 percent of shoppers prefer self-checkout for its reduced wait times, 20 percent appreciate the ability to check prices, and 15 percent value scanning at their own pace.

Clearly, speed and convenience dominate the consumer's checklist in selecting self-checkout. So if those are the primary benefits consumers value from a self-checkout experience, what can we learn about challenges with the self-checkout experience from consumers?

The Drawbacks and Adaptation in Self-Checkout

Ricardo voiced a common frustration shared by some consumers; technical glitches in self-checkouts can quickly turn a speedy promise into a prolonged ordeal. Casey further raised issues on the broader implications, emphasizing the importance of adapting self-checkout into the customer journey and experience. With the history of self-service dating back to Piggly Wiggly in the 1900s, the discussion suggested this trend is here to stay, highlighting the necessity for brands to evolve alongside customer preferences.

Leveraging Data for a Seamless Experience

In response to the 20 percent of shoppers liking the price-check feature, Ricardo suggested increasing access to price-check stations throughout stores. This insight prompts retailers to consider changes within their aisles, aiming to enhance the shopping experience.

Georgina explained how TruRating collaborates with retailers to address potential issues at the self-checkout stage. Through A/B testing, they explore innovations like assisted checkout to improve customer satisfaction, aligning with the evolving landscape of retail technology.

The Future of Self-Checkout

Looking ahead, Casey predicts an increase in advertisements at self-checkout stations. The anticipation of ads on these screens suggests a shift in the marketing strategies within retail spaces, with TruRating able to offer critical data on resultant consumer sentiment changes. Georgina encourages retailers, especially those planning to introduce ads, to leverage TruRating's services to better gauge shopper opinions and understand how consumers may react to these changes and adaptations.

Final Thoughts

As we wrap up today's exploration, we invite retailers and consumers alike to reflect on these insights. For those planning on implementing or enhancing self-checkout offerings, remember there’s still time to optimize this critical point in the consumer journey!

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Follow along with a full episode transcript available below:

Full Episode Transcript

S1E4 Fast Lanes and Price Checks: Navigating Self-Checkout

Show Intro

[00:00:00]

Ricardo Belmar: Welcome to our new Retail Razor Show, Data Blades, our new standalone Retail Razor Show, where we talk real world numbers and slice through measurable consumer insights based on research at the point of sale.

And bringing us that slicing and dicing of data is Georgina Nelson, CEO of TruRating.

Casey Golden: TruRating helps retailers hear directly from validated shoppers daily, and recently had a major milestone of half a billion responses. Retailers using TruRating average an 80 percent response rate on questions asked, made possible by asking a single rotating question directly on the POS pinpad, making it a seamless part of the shopper's checkout experience.

Ricardo Belmar: TruRating also works with their retail partners to develop consumer insights reports by running questions on an industry topic or theme. These anonymous responses are linked to metrics such as [00:01:00] basket size and repeat visits to produce industry changing insights like the ones Georgina will share with us today and raise our data blades.

I'm your host, Ricardo Belmar.

Casey Golden: And I'm your cohost, Casey Golden.

Georgina Nelson - Consumer Sentiment Towards Self-Checkout

Casey Golden: Welcome Georgina.

Georgina Nelson: Thank you both. It's great to be here today.

Casey Golden: So today Retail Razor Data Blades topic is all about consumer sentiment towards self checkout. Georgina, tell us more.

Georgina Nelson: So, imagine you've spent a reasonable amount of time picking out your perfect items, navigating through the aisles, and finally arriving at the checkout counter, and that's when the magic or the mayhem happens, and it's really in those last few moments of that shopping experience that can, yeah, make or break your view.

So, while checking out your options in many retailers now, are, uh, self checkout and or cashier. So which do you choose and why? [00:02:00] And at Tru Rating, that's what we really wanted to get under the skin of. And that question sparked our research on customer sentiment towards self checkout. So we asked, what do you like best about self checkout?

65 percent of shoppers answered less wait time. 20 percent that they can check the prices and 15 percent answered that they can scan at their own pace. It sounds like a no brainer, but the biggest perk that consumers really value when it comes to self checkout is, it's the speed and that convenience.

It's about that swift and seamless transaction and that final sprint to the finish line. So it's vital that retailers really pull out all the stops to actually ensure that they're delivering on that and that this point of the consumer journey is quick and smooth

Ricardo Belmar: Well, this is a really interesting one to me because I have to say, if I were the consumer answering the question, I probably would have looked for the choice that says [00:03:00]nothing really, because I'm not personally a fan of most self checkout systems. But it's interesting that you found that speed was the number one choice because that's probably my complaint about self checkout systems that don't work well. It's because they didn't let me get through checkout faster because something went wrong. And somehow I always seem to have the ability to find that one item in the store that as soon as you get to the self checkout, this just has no way to scan.

It doesn't work. And until you get someone to come by and reset the system or do something through it, it will not let you check out. And of course that's the opposite of speed and convenience, right?

Georgina Nelson: Yeah, very true. Mm

Casey Golden: Yeah. I mean, I'm never a big proponent proponent of transferring work from paid employees to unpaid customers or taking a smile away when I had a chance to make somebody smile before they walk out the door, but this is nothing new. It's never going to go away. It's really about how we adapt self [00:04:00] checkout into our customer journey and our customer experience.

Self checkout dates all the way back to the Piggly Wiggly with the self serve first self service supermarket back in the 1900s. So, however we look at it, it's been here, it's going to stay. But really understanding how customers are using it and how brands can adjust, I think. It's a really key point into really asking customers what they think about it.

Are they enjoying it? Do they like it? of stores I've heard are almost, I think I heard some type of stat that like, 55 percent of all sales last year went through a self checkout.

Ricardo Belmar: That's a big number.

Casey Golden: It's a big number. It wasn't me.

Ricardo Belmar: Well, so I, I'm also curious about the, the, the second number, Georgina, you gave the 20 percent that said they could check prices. So I have to think if, if I'm the retailer and I'm hearing you report these insights back to them, [00:05:00] is that making me think that, maybe I need to have that ability to check prices at maybe at scattered throughout the store. To me, my best example is Target, right? Target has all these checks, price check stations all over the store where you can just go and scan something. If all you need to know is check the price, I would think that if, I mean, that's one fifth of your responses are saying, I just, I, I liked it, but I could check the prices first.

So I assume that means if I'm one of those shoppers and I didn't know the price, I didn't realize that was going to be, maybe I decided not to buy that item when I got to the self checkout and I suppose from a, mentality perspective that probably makes that customer feel better.

They can just put it aside and then having had to have done that with the cashier and then felt like they're telling the cashier, Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to buy that. Can you not put, not include that in my purchase? It's a little more awkward that way. So I could see how that would be an appeal, but I'm curious, do you do you think retailers would use that kind of information then say, Oh, maybe I need to do something else in the store.

Now that I know 20 percent of my customers want this information.

Georgina Nelson: [00:06:00] Yeah, we've definitely it's the time of experimentation. I think for a lot of retail, it's like innovation is, is on an all time high. And with, especially with TruRating, we can, do AB tests rolling something new out in stores A and keeping store B constant, and seeing how that impacts customer experience.

how much they pay and how often they return. And, when we have shared some of this self checkout, research, some of it's pretty, can be pretty damning, customer experience can plummet often. And so it's really to a retailer. Okay, so when we, when we know that that's a risk, what can we do to try and, support the customer at that last point in the journey and make it a better experience?

So we've worked with retailers, testing out, assisted self checkout. So, employing someone with the, yeah, the mandate to stand at those banks, smile, make sure consumers can find that barcode that they know how to [00:07:00] scan. And yeah, and that's been really beneficial. And they've seen the uptick in customer experience down to that.

Casey Golden: That A B testing I can see very valuable. I have a feeling that we are going to see more advertisements at self checkout in the near future. It'll be much more common that we're going to have to watch an ad before we can swipe our card. And I think Tru Rating will be providing some critical data on that sentiment change.

Georgina Nelson: You cannot wait to feed back with your views on that. Yeah.

Casey Golden: I hope every single retailer that is planning on putting ads on those screens is already a Tru Rating customer.

Ricardo Belmar: Exactly.

Georgina Nelson: And if not, there's still time. Call me.

Casey Golden: There is still time. This is great, Georgina. Thank you so much for joining us today's Retail Razor Data Blades.

Georgina Nelson: Thank you so much. It's been an absolute pleasure and I [00:08:00] look forward to the next one.

Show Close

Casey Golden: If you enjoyed our show, please consider giving us a five star rating and review on Apple podcasts and Goodpods. Remember to smash that subscribe button in your favorite podcast player and tune in on YouTube so you don't miss a minute. I'm your cohost, Casey Golden.

Ricardo Belmar: Please share your feedback with us on Twitter at Casey C Golden, Ricardo underscore Belmar, and at RetailRazor, or find us on LinkedIn, Threads, and Instagram. For the best highlights from each episode shipped straight to your inbox, subscribe to our Substack newsletter for full episode transcripts and bonus content.