Self-service and its room for growth

Frictionless customer experiences can be delivered more efficiently.

Originally implemented as a way to reduce the operating costs of running a store, self-service has evolved since its introduction over 15 years ago into an option that provides greater flexibility in store operations and customer engagement. From a consumer perspective, self-service nowadays is expected by consumers within the retail landscape solution and even demanded in many environments.

According to the findings of a study focusing on Asia’s retail journey towards self-service, conducted by IDC and commissioned by Diebold Nixdorf, 16% of surveyed retailers have rolled out some sort of self-service with a third currently undergoing trials for implementation. While retailers take their time to figure out where self-service falls within their operating models, businesses will benefit from the drive towards convenience-type shopping as consumers look for quicker shopping journeys.

Although 33% of retailers are at the trial or pilot stage, a lot of retailers look at self-service touch points as “build it and they will come” technology, treating it as just another PoS device that consumers will “just use”. The reality of self-service deployments requires the involvement of store staff and operations, as these are important players in operationalising the technology and building a conducive environment for a good customer experience.

With consumer behaviour leaning towards having more control over the journey, dictating how they transact or interact with retailing brands, self-service implementation numbers are expected to rise dramatically in the near future.

Some retailers have deployed self-service options to address staff shortages while others have opted-out of providing self-service options to consumers due to the surplus of manpower and lower salaries common in those areas. The pandemic has not alleviated the situation for many, however, as the rise of online channels threatens brick-and-mortar stores.

While self-service helps establishments in dealing with staff availability and uncertainty, markets without staffing issues still need self-service, albeit for different reasons, as most retailers have no payroll capacity or need to have staff sit behind all counters all the time. This is evident in stores that have traditional PoS and cashiers, where only a handful of lanes are open, creating a bottleneck for customers and leaving assets unused.

Self-service enables retailers to open all lanes 100% of the time, allowing the reallocation of staff into other areas of the business such as restocking shelves or enhancing customer experience. By eliminating queues, the set-up provides good experience to consumers, opening up the possibility for repeat revenue and increased brand loyalty.

Aside from supermarkets and groceries, other sectors such as fuel, convenience, and fashion are starting to roll out more self-service touch points to speed up consumer journeys, with fashion, in particular, playing with RFID scanning technology used in warehousing and deploying them in self-checkout areas.

All in all, the key to short to mid-term self-service success is the agility of technology and the ability of retailers to choose how they set it up for the greatest amount of flexibility. Focusing on the right technology and investing resources into researching and developing systems that utilize emerging technologies can be the game-changer years down the line.

This October 4, Tuesday, Retail Asia will be hosting a fireside chat with Diebold Nixdorf that will dive into the self-service segment in the region. Those interested in attending may contact the Retail Asia events team at [email protected]. To find out more about the event, click here. To register, click here.