Supermarket giant Tesco is putting an emphasis on self-serve checkouts and appears to be moving away from staffed checkouts. The retailer said the decision is due to a “lack of customer demand” for traditional manned checkouts.
The big four supermarket said that larger self-checkout areas were proving popular and up to six bags can be packed at once at their bigger self-checkout areas designed for trolleys, which are three times longer than standard sizes. Yet not everyone is happy with the move.
It comes as a petition urging Tesco to bring back staff has been signed by more than 218,000 people. Customers have called for the supermarket to stop increasing the number of self-service checkouts to their stores on change.org, BirminghamLive reports.
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A Tesco spokeswoman told The Grocer : “We are proud to offer customers choice when it comes to checkouts, and after successful trials we are introducing new trolley-accessible self-service checkouts in some of our stores, which have more room and are easier to use for larger shops,”
“Our colleagues and the friendly service they provide are absolutely vital to our stores – they will always be on hand to help our customers, and will continue to operate attended checkouts so that customers can choose the option they prefer.”
Grocery Insight chief executive Steve Dresser told The Grocer the move was in-line with an increasing trend for moving to focus on self-service checkouts.
“[Supermarkets] are moving to dedicated checkouts rather than empty manned checkouts, which naturally are linked to the hours given to the front end,” he said.
“Of course, there are savings to be made losing the manned checkouts, but the reality is, you rarely see checkouts open these days en masse anyway, so it’s underutilised space. It’s not always positive for customers, however, as some may feel forced into self-service options.”
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