febrero 4, 2025

New Trends in Retail and Grocery Self-Checkout and Self-Service

Waist up portrait of smiling black woman helping customers with self checkout in supermarket

Giving consumers more control over their shopping experiences leads to greater satisfaction. Offering self-service and self-checkout options that eliminate lines and save time is an excellent example. Shoppers can skip the line and complete their shopping journeys more quickly and conveniently. In the not-so-distant past, grocers had few self-service solution options. However, in 2025, grocery self-checkout and retail self-service solutions are more flexible, accessible, and adaptable to a range of use cases. Savvy retailers are leveraging these solutions in traditional and innovative ways to enhance experiences and increase customer satisfaction.

Grocery and Retail Self-Service Trends Gaining Momentum

Retailers and grocers are discovering that self-service solutions offer benefits in numerous parts of the store, such as:

Self-Checkout

RBR Data Services reports that retail self-checkout terminal installations could reach 2 million by 2029. In addition to new installations, grocers and retailers are updating systems to give customers a wider range of payment choices at self-checkouts, for example, adding payment technology that accepts contactless cards, digital wallets, or biometric payments. 

Retailers and grocers will see the greatest user adoption and customer satisfaction by implementing total solutions. Integrated tools such as scales and barcode scanners allow customers to check out confidently without the help of a cashier or sales associate. They will also keep losses at the retail or grocery self-checkout low with a smart system that uses cameras or sensors to ensure that customers scan all items at the correct prices. Diebold Nixdorf reports that AI-powered loss prevention has allowed merchants to achieve up to 80% loss rectification,

Perimeter Self-Service

Perimeter self-service is one of the fastest-growing self-service trends. Supermarket Perimeter reports that 43% of shoppers have used perimeter self-service solutions at the deli, bakery, café, or made-to-order counter, and another 26% of shoppers are interested in using them. That research also found that 60% of customers who used self-ordering technologies were satisfied with the experience. By placing their orders on a kiosk, customers can communicate precisely what they want and get updates on when their orders will be ready. Retailers and grocers benefit from greater accuracy, less waste, and more efficiency. Furthermore, average basket size increases by as much as 30% when customers order independently.

Loyalty and Engagement

The best grocery and retail self-service solutions deliver reliable, customer-friendly ordering or experiences — but they can do much more. Self-service solutions in high-traffic areas can attract customers with eye-catching images or videos, display ads, and promote events. Additionally, grocery and retail self-checkout can give shoppers an easy way to join a loyalty program and begin earning rewards. Large stores can also deploy self-service solutions for wayfinding to help customers find what they’re looking for down to department and aisle.

Pasillo sin fin

Kiosks are always on — so they can always help customers find what they need, even if it isn’t in stock at the local store. A growing self-service trend is to create “endless aisle” options that allow customers to browse the entire inventory, order, pay, and arrange for in-store pickup or home delivery. Giving shoppers access to information can keep revenues in the store, rather than losing sales (and possibly a customer) to a competitor.

Order Pickup

Self-service solutions can give ecommerce customers a convenient way to notify store employees that they’ve arrived for their buy online, pickup in store (BOPIS) orders. They can scan a QR code or enter an order number for prompt service without requiring them to download an app or stand in line for assistance.

Steps to a Successful Self-Service Implementation

Deploying retail self-checkout or self-service technology to give consumers more autonomy during their shopping journeys is a simple concept, but it’s tricky to implement successfully. Merchants must deploy retail and grocery self-checkout or self-service as part of a well-planned strategy that begins with defining goals for the implementation, which can vary. Retailers may implement retail self-checkout to reduce the labor necessary at checkout counters. They may have a goal of keeping lines shorter when store traffic increases or increasing customer engagement with digital solutions in-store. To achieve their specific goals, merchants should work with an experienced provider with solutions that address the latest self-service trends. Providers with the best approach offer hardware-agnostic software, so employees and customers use the same solution on self-service kiosks and self-checkout as they do on point of sale (POS) terminals and mobile devices. One software solution for all devices simplifies IT management and ensures consistent experiences for customers, regardless of how they engage.

In addition to choosing the optimal software for retail or grocery self-checkout or self-service, hardware selection impacts how well the solution will help merchants reach their objectives. For example, a large, interactive touchscreen solution can more effectively engage consumers as they shop while a grocery self-checkout will benefit more from a smaller screen that makes transactions and protects the customer’s privacy. 

Retail and grocery self-checkout solutions must also include robust security and fraud prevention. When customers don’t scan items, whether accidentally or intentionally, it negatively impacts the bottom line. Innovations are now available that allow merchants to overcome this challenge. For example, AI-powered machine learning solutions can protect merchants from shrinkage and losses at the self-checkout by up to 75%. Merchants also need to protect their investments by deploying solutions that monitor, secure, and update hardware to keep self-service solutions operational.

The Importance of Factoring Employees into Grocery and Retail Self-Service Strategies

While purpose-built grocery self-checkout and retail self-service solutions allow customers to complete transactions on their own, merchants should recognize that their employees are still key to providing the best experiences. Solution providers can’t anticipate every scenario that merchants and customers could encounter. Employees should be available as customers use self-service solutions to provide assistance. minimize losses, and ensure self-service solutions are operating correctly.

The best strategy is to identify employees who have the heart of a teacher who will help customers understand and embrace self-checkout. Those employees will also be best suited to make the most of opportunities for personal interactions that enhance in-store shopping experiences. However, grocers shouldn’t assign cashiers with the best scan productivity to self-checkout. It’s important to keep those employees in traditional lanes.

Differentiate Your Business

Although deploying retail and grocery self-checkout and self-service options is a popular trend, it doesn’t mean that these solutions must operate the same way in every store. Merchants can create unique experiences with the right combination of software and hardware to enhance customer experiences and their brands.

Póngase en contacto con nosotros to learn how to optimize self-service with flexible, hardware-agnostic software that enhances experiences, simplifies IT management, and enables deep visibility into store operations.