In an era where self-checkout is the retail norm, discover the keys to meeting shopper needs and creating a frictionless retail experience.
Imagine that you are going shopping. Maybe you just need to buy a few things, or perhaps you have a longer list. Regardless, your goal is to gather the items that you need, pay for them, and return to your day as quickly as possible. You finish your shopping and are ready to make your purchase—and then you notice the queue.
For most shoppers, the biggest barrier to a frictionless shopping experience is checkout. Long waits can turn a pleasant shopping trip into a frustrating experience—but they don’t have to.
As a retailer, shifting your mindset around checkout is one of the most effective ways to enhance your customer experience. Checkout is no longer just about payment; it’s an evolving engagement terminal adapting to the dynamic retail landscape.
Speed, intelligence and ease of innovation are elements that are now imperative for enhancing checkout and catering to diverse shopper journeys. However, the traditional approach to checkout innovation and experimentation historically introduces a lot of risk. How are modern retailers to maintain a competitive edge and keep up with innovative technology without disrupting their entire system with new technology, confusing shoppers, and impacting productivity?
Embrace a new era of self-checkout
For many retailers, self-checkout is an evolution, not a revolution. Embracing new technology doesn’t necessarily mean completely overhauling existing solutions. Advances in technology address traditional pain points of check-out, such as deploying predictive insights and AI capabilities to prevent shrinkage.
However, it’s important to balance new technology with a familiarity with existing brand values and customer profiles. For example, if a retailer who has never had self-checkout suddenly transitions to just-walk-out technology, they may degrade their existing customer experience. But, for a retailer who is already experimenting with computer vision, this change to just-walk-out technology would not be as drastic and could increase customer satisfaction.
Focus on inclusion
In this era of diverse and evolving shopper journeys and needs, ultra-configurable new self-checkout software and hardware allows retailers to embrace inclusion. New technology allows retailers to plan for a range of accessibility needs, payment methods and technical literacy, creating a customer experience that is not only inclusive, but delightful.
While it might be easy to assume that ‘self-checkout’ is synonymous with ‘cashless’, research shows that up to 50% of all payments are cash transactions, so trying to eliminate friction by only accepting cards at self-checkout might inadvertently alienate a large portion of transactions.[RBR 2022 report]
Taking time to determine the right card-to-cash ratio for self-checkout is important. When it comes to physical accessibility, a growing number of merchants in the Asia-Pacific region are making their stores more inclusive by pioneering more spacious self-checkout kiosks and bagging to provide easier access to customers with mobility concerns.
Delight your customers with personalisation
In an era where self-checkout is no longer a novel experience, we’ve come to appreciate its convenience, speed, and the power it places in the hands of the shopper. However, few retailers have embraced the full potential of self-checkout to go beyond a mere transaction and become a dynamic engagement that transforms the shopper’s journey.
In their search for a better checkout experience, retailers are beginning to embrace this shift in mindset; 1 in 2 is exploring ways to elevate the self-checkout experience and reimagine what checkout can truly offer.
Personalisation at checkout is the key—tailoring the checkout to the geographic region, a single store or even the individual shopper. With the advent of new technology, retailers have an opportunity to turn what could be a mundane experience into a brand-enhancing moment of customer connection.
Customisation opportunities including branding, themed screens, and vibrant colours meet customers where they’re at, offering endless possibilities for engagement without sacrificing function.
It’s time to go beyond what checkout can do
Introducing the NCR Voyix Commerce Platform – the cloud-native all-encompassing solution designed to redefine retail tech. With its API-centric, modular, and scalable design, it stands as a beacon of innovation in the checkout space.
Picture this: 75k retail lanes already connected, handling a staggering 8bn API calls monthly, seamlessly integrating with 20+ third-party solutions. The platform boasts 15 published APIs, processing more than £16bn in payments and 41m loyalty transactions each month. It’s more than a solution; it’s a dynamic force propelling retail (and checkout) into the future.
The NCR Voyix Commerce Platform empowers businesses to navigate, simplify, and seamlessly run their entire technology ecosystem – running the front-end technology that will allow retailers to flex both their software and hardware in a way they’ve never done before. Its unparalleled connectivity makes it a transformative tool for retailers looking to embrace the future of checkout and fully integrate their store systems.
Are you ready to elevate your checkout experience, meet the diverse needs of shoppers, and stay at the forefront of the retail revolution?
