Self-service checkout
A self -service checkout (self-service checkout for short, often referred to as self-scanning or self-checkout in Switzerland ) is a checkout in retail where there is no permanent cashier , but the customers themselves scan and pay for the goods . Usually there is an employee nearby to help with problems.
commitment
The self-service checkouts are set up by retailers mainly for the following reasons:
- With a self-service checkout, the personnel costs of a branch can be reduced. Around 25 to 30% of the personnel costs of a branch are accounted for by the checkout area.
- The space requirement is also less. Compared to a conventional checkout, two self-service checkouts can be set up. Due to the higher number of checkouts, queues can also be reduced.
service
As early as 1965, so-called “self-tip checkouts” were tested in a Migros branch in Zurich - Wollishofen , where customers had to enter the prices themselves in the checkout. However, this has not caught on.
With today's self-service checkouts, the customer guides each individual item past a barcode reader . Using the EAN code , the price is determined via a database and added up in the cash register. In some systems, the weight of the article is determined via a database and the total weight of the purchase is determined. All items are weighed and the stored individual weights of the goods are compared with the weight of the entire purchase. This is to ensure that all items that were in the car were also scanned and thus paid for. Other systems work with a hand scanner. The customer scans the articles while they are shopping. Payment is made without having to scan the items again just for the checkout process. The data from the hand scanner is electronically transmitted to the cash register terminal.
Payment for the purchase can usually be made in cash , by debit or credit card or by voucher .
use
Germany
In Germany, self -service checkouts are used, for example, at IKEA and at some branches of the retail chains Real , Globus , Famila , Edeka , Rewe , Netto-Brandendiskount and Kaufland .
Switzerland
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In larger department stores or in highly frequented locations, the Coop and Migros provide self-service checkouts, a distinction being made between self-scanning and self-checkout . Own vouchers and common debit and credit cards, mobile payment , as well as own apps with a payment function and cash at Coop are accepted.
The Migros calls her self-scanning concept subito . It differentiates between self-scanning , scanning with a handheld scanner and paying the amount due at a terminal at the end, and self-checkout , scanning and paying at a till. While the Cumulus customer loyalty program is required for the former , this is not necessary for the latter.
At Coop , Passabene self-scanning , scanning with a hand scanner or your own iOS or Android smartphone and paying at a self-service terminal or, alternatively, at a staffed till , is in use. With self-checkout, however, the goods are finally scanned in at a terminal and paid for there. At Coop, too, participation in the Supercard customer loyalty program is mandatory for self-scanning .
Since 2015, the automatic printing of receipts has been prevented at Coop via the Supercard customer account . Migros would also like to offer such a function in the future. Coop has announced that from 13 November 2019 the receipt will only be printed out on request. The matter still seems very complex for Migros, but they are working on a solution in the cash register system .
In March 2019, Lidl announced that it would introduce self-service checkouts in the same year. Lidl started the first three self-service checkouts in one branch on October 3, 2019.
IKEA also offers a self-checkout .
Great Britain
Self-service checkouts are common not only in large, but also in smaller urban locations of many (food) retailers, such as Tesco , Sainsbury's or Waitrose , but also Lidl.
Netherlands
In the Netherlands, Albert Heijn is testing a system with which customers can scan goods as they are selected from the shelves. Customers can therefore pack the goods directly into their own shopping bag without having to go through the process of repacking them to scan them later at the checkout. The system is similar to Amazon Go . More widespread in the Albert Heijn branch network, however, are self-scanning offers ( Zelfscan ), which, as in Switzerland at Migros and Coop, require a customer card to use the hand-held scanner, and self-checkout tills ( Scan & Go ).
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Payment machines - cash register, please! Retrieved November 7, 2009 .
- ↑ Antenna broadcast on October 20, 1965: “Selbsttipp-Kassen” at Migros. (Video) SRF Archive , October 18, 2013, accessed on June 12, 2019 .
- ↑ Stiftung Warentest , Have you heard? in Der test , April 1966, No. 1, p. 4, ISSN 0040-3946
- ↑ Scan & Go (globe). Archived from the original on September 20, 2014 ; Retrieved September 18, 2014 .
- ↑ Combat zone checkout: scanners cause stress ; Sunday, October 24, 2009, page 16
- ↑ https://www.migros.ch/de/services/zahlungsmoegitäten/subito.html
- ↑ https://www.coop.ch/de/einkaufen/supermarkt/services/passabene.html
- ↑ https://www.coop.ch/de/einkaufen/supermarkt/services/self-checkout.html
- ↑ Ulrich Rotzinger: Migros & Coop dispense with receipts for self-scanning. In: blick.ch . January 28, 2019, accessed February 15, 2019 .
- ↑ a b Sarah Kunz: Coop and Co. put an end to compulsory receipts - Migros is still lagging behind. In: aargauerzeitung.ch . November 11, 2019, accessed November 11, 2019 .
- ↑ Lidl is now also using the self-checkout. In: 20min.ch . March 18, 2019, accessed March 18, 2019 .
- ↑ Albert Heijn introduces payment systems without cash registers. In: NetherlandsNet. WWU Münster, September 24, 2018, accessed on December 15, 2018 .
- ↑ Koos van Reesch: Speed is the key . In: rt retail technology 04 2015. 2015, accessed on December 15, 2018 .
- ↑ First supermarket removes cash registers: Customers only need a special card. In: chip.de. October 2, 2018, accessed December 15, 2018 .