Retail Stars Blog Series - Checkout Agility

When we talk about checkout agility, what do we mean exactly? For me, it’s all about a frictionless experience upon checkout; making it quick and easy to open new registers when queues are increasing, mobile and contactless payments or in-app checkouts.

I have identified three key areas that demonstrate checkout agility, namely; ‘Scan and Go’, ‘Select and Go’ / Just Walk Out technology and ‘1-Click’. I have identified retailers that do this well and conclude with what retailers can do next to begin their journey to a frictionless customer experience at the checkout.

Scan and Go

Have you ever seen the scanners at the entrance of a store? By picking up one of these, you can scan your products as you shop - much quicker than queuing up and having somebody else scan everything for you! Then all you need to do is just purchase the items using the retailer’s app. 

M&S are currently rolling-out “Mobile, Pay, Go” across six London stores before the Christmas period. This will enable shoppers to purchase their items seamlessly via the M&S app without approaching a till - with M&S being one of the first retailers to offer this technology to Android users. They’re constantly updating the app following consumer feedback to continually improve the experience for all consumers, focusing on providing a simpler customer journey. In addition, by streamlining the registration process through Sparks, it makes it simple for customers to get started. M&S are committed to “testing and learning, making updates and adding new features to ensure speed, convenience and a seamless digital experience”... just what the customer expects from any retailer! Other retailers using this technology are Tesco - all you have to do is scan your Clubcard account to begin and then you can just Scan, Pack and Pay! By packing your bags up on selecting products off the shelves saves the whole unloading and loading again at the till. 

Waitrose have also introduced ‘Quick Check’ to ensure that shopping at Waitrose is quick and easy! Customers can scan items and pack them straight into their shopping bags so customers don’t need to spend time unpacking everything again at the checkout. Shoppers can see a running total as they scan items and when their shopping is complete, customers can just pay and go. Simple.

Select and Go / Just Walk Out technology

Have you ever been into a store, selected what you wanted and just walked out? Some retailers are cutting out the queuing at the tills, allowing shoppers to leave the store with their chosen items (while still paying of course!). 

Amazon Go is powered by Just Walk Out technology to improve and speed up the store experience for consumers. But how does it work? 

Amazon aren’t the only retailer using this technology however, with other retailers exploring this technology to improve the customer experience by eliminating the checkout process. BingoBox (Convenience Store in China) currently label all of their items with an RFID tag so when shoppers are ready to checkout they scan their items on self-checkout machines and pay via WeChat - however, BingoBox are working towards automatic purchases through image recognition, very similar to Amazon Go. And there are small start-ups that can make this happen such as AiFi who use AI sensors and a camera network-based system to enable a checkout free solutions for retailers. This technology is something that I believe more UK retailers should get on board with so I question why more retailers in the UK market aren’t using this technology?

I understand that some customers may be a bit apprehensive with this technology, afraid that it will be difficult to use in addition to privacy concerns. But the majority of those that have experienced it, love it! Think of all the time that customers can save, and potentially using that time to spend more time in store looking at products and selecting more items to purchase. But how does this compare to the cost of implementing this technology, particularly when some retailers and thousands and thousands of SKUs.

1-Click

The focus in the retail blog series so far has predominantly been on bricks and mortar stores, but what about online retailers and their checkout agility? An obvious retailer that offers a seamless experience with 1-Click is obviously Amazon - if you ‘buy now’ with 1-Click on the product page, your item will be delivered to your default address using your default payment method to purchase the items. This avoids the hassle of shopping basket software making it extremely quick and easy to buy the products you want. In addition, abandonment of the shopping basket through the ‘1 Click’ technology is significantly reduced and therefore leads to much smaller revenue losses for these retailers. It’s the speed and convenience that customers love about Amazon, particularly when tying together the 1-Click experience with the launch of Amazon Prime for super fast delivery. Amazon are even looking at predictive AI to understand when you’ll run out of toilet paper and proactively dispatching more rolls to your home!

With Amazon’s patent for ‘1 Click’ now expired, it means that other retailers have been able to enter this space and reap the benefits - particularly for those in mobile commerce where abandonment rates can reach as high as 95% as a result of prolonged form-filling and checking-out. Some of the biggest retailers such as Apple and American Express have begun working on introducing ‘1 Click’ purchasing as a payment solution. Shopify Pay have also claimed that their version of ‘1 Click’ has improved checkout completion by 40%! But the question is, why haven’t more retailers taken advantage of this?

What can retailers learn from this? 

I think that retailers should explore what they can offer consumers to improve checkout agility and subsequently improve their customer experience; something that should be at the heart of a retailer’s strategy. By making the checkout process as slick as the online process, retailers will drive consumers to the store as they now understand that they won’t get frustrated waiting in long queues to pay! 

How can retailers put this into practice? 

A lot of retailers have this technology on their wishlist so it’s important to identify the different methods of improving the checkout experience and understand what technology may be involved. Weigh up the cost of this with the benefits you’ll receive across happier customers with bigger baskets. It may be worth conducting some research and speaking to your current customers to understand their views. Or it may be that this new technology will reach out to a new set of potential customers, particularly those that like your products but may not yet be engaged with your customer experience.

I’d be interested in knowing who your Retail Stars are - join the conversation with #whoareyourretailstars and #retailstars

The next blog I will be posting as part of the Retail Stars blog series later this week will be all about Customer Experience so keep your eyes peeled!