The impact of Self-scan checkouts on customer satisfaction at Sainsbury’s, Whitechapel store. (original) (raw)
Self-scan checkout (SSC) is a technology based self-service option where customers scan, bag and pay for their shopping without the assistance of a human cashier. It is being used increasingly by retailers especially large supermarkets, to deliver superior customer value and service by reducing checkout times. . There are some studies available on technology based self-service options, however little is known about the impact of SSCs on customer satisfaction especially in a supermarket context. This study was carried out to investigate the overall impact of SSCs on the level of customer satisfaction at Sainsbury’s Whitechapel store. Structured observation and a questionnaire survey were carried out to assess how SSCs were used and the level of customer satisfaction. With some modifications, the SERVPERF model was use to measure perceived service quality of customer who actually use SSCs and their practical experiences of service encounters with SSCs. The findings of the study are useful for Sainsbury’s to understand how customers perceive the service quality of self-scan checkout and so as to try to improve the service quality and hence customer satisfaction. The study found that men and younger people are more likely to use self-scan checkout than women and older people. The study also found that customers experienced several problems during the service encounter with the self-scan checkout. Among those problems, problem with ‘unwanted item in bagging area’ and problem with ‘approval needed’ for age restricted items are the most commonly experienced problems. Most problems, especially ‘unwanted item in bagging area arose due to mistakes of customers or not following instructions properly. Other problems depend on the level of customers’ technological skills and ability, level of technology anxiety, lack of system reliability, and some problems due to poor design of SSC’s technology. Recommendations are provided about how to solve or minimise the problems with the SSCs in order to improve the service quality of SSCs and level of customer satisfaction. Some key recommendations are: to allow SSCs attendants to approve age restricted items from a monitoring unit and developing a remote approval system to minimise problems with age restricted items and helping to train customers on how to operate SSCs efficiently to reduce problem with ‘unwanted item in bagging area’.
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