As a debate about the value and effectiveness of self-checkout continues to take place, The Street has a story about Target’s approach to the subject.
During an earnings call, the story says, “the company … talked about a quiet change it has made in some stores that bucks what rivals Walmart and Kroger have been doing. Target … has been testing changes to its self-checkout lanes. This has included making them 10 items or less and even adding more workers to man traditional checkout stations.
“‘Since our goal is for Target to be the easiest place for our guests to shop, our teams have been focused on the front-of-store experience with the goal of providing consistently great service through the in-store checkout experience, along with drive-up and in-store pickup,’ Target COO John Mulligan said during the earnings call.
“He also addressed something that retailers rarely say out loud so they can use ‘convenience’ as a justification for self-checkout.
“‘And because our guests tell us they enjoy interacting with our team since we’ve refocused on the front-end experience, we’ve seen more than a 6 percentage point increase in the usage of full-service lanes across the chain,’ he added.
“Target hasn’t made a massive pivot away from self-checkout, but it has opened more traditional checkout lanes in many stores.”
CEO Brian Cornell says, “We’re playing the long game, investing in our stores, our team, our digital capabilities, and our assortment to provide the newness, value, and convenience our guests want for this holiday season and beyond. At the heart of it all is our focus on being our guests’ happy place and delivering the joyful shopping experience that makes Target, Target.”
KC’s View:
I, frankly, continue to be amazed that after all these years, self-checkout has become a point of contention. It seems pretty simple to me – some consumers want it, some don’t, and so it makes sense to offer it as an option.
Having more staff always makes sense, I think.
Cornell does lose me, though, when he describes Target as being anybody’s “happy place.” Maybe he ought to visit the store in Stamford, Connecticut – a unit I avoid like the plague because it always strikes me as an unhappy place. (I’m happy to meet him there if he’d like to prove me wrong.)
The post Target Puts Limits On Self-Checkout Usage appeared first on MNB.
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