Market Challenges And Opportunities

Self-checkout System Market Drivers:

Increase in checkout speed

Many end-use sectors such as restaurants and retail are focused on faster checkout speeds, in order to provide effective service to a large volume of customers. Faster, simpler, and more efficient checkouts result in a superior user experience. For a retailer, it translates into less checkout abandonment and more conversions. Furthermore, a faster checkout system is designed to return customers that reduce fields, in order to ensure a faster checkout process. Self-checkout systems offer an efficient and faster checkout service with a standardized experience on different devices. It also enables customers to keep purchasing without migrating away from shopping platforms. Thus, these factors are expected to drive the growth of the global self-checkout system market during the forecast period.

Reduction in operational cost

Another advantage of implementing a self-checkout system is reduced operational costs. For retailers and restaurant owners, keeping the operational cost to a minimum is crucial without compromising the quality of service. Since there is no cashier at every register, self-checkout systems reduce labor costs. In fact, one employee can monitor around 6-10 self-service checkout systems easily. This, in turn, allows stores and restaurants to handle traffic spikes and service more customers during their busy schedules. In the long-term, it reduces overall operational cost, making the business more profitable and efficient. Therefore, these factors are expected to propel the global self-checkout system market growth over the forecast period.

Self-checkout System Market Opportunities:

Rising demand from convenient as well as specialty and retail stores

There has been a massive demand for self-checkout systems, particularly in specialty, retail, and convenience stores. These stores process a vast volume of customers and it can increase during festivals and busy hours. Therefore, a faster and more efficient platform is required to provide more improved service. Furthermore, these systems can offer cashless transactions, which eventually accelerates the speed of purchasing.

Emerging concept of unmanned stores

Many countries have started adopting the innovative concept of unmanned stores, especially in China. These stores typically rely on artificial intelligence and smartphone-related technologies to replace conventional features in a store. Such stores have been opened in the U.S. and China on an experimental basis, to test their proficiency. For instance, in May 2019, Amazon announced to open its first unmanned store Amazon Go in New York U.S. These stores are rapidly adopting self-checkout systems since they serve the purpose of ‘no manual intervention’.( Amazon is a vast Internet-based enterprise that sells books, music, movies, housewares, electronics, toys, and many other goods, either directly or as the middleman between other retailers and Amazon’s millions of customers).

Self-checkout System Market Restraints:

Increased loss of inventory

One of the major disadvantages of a self-checkout system is the loss of inventory. Many retailers have noted the loss of stock typically occurred due to self-checkout systems. According to the ECR Emigration Clearance Required Community Shrinkage and On-shelf Availability Group (OSA), a typical retailer can experience an increase in stock loss of the sales that go through Self-checkout machines. According to the same source, a typical store with 25% of its sales value processed through a fixed self-checkout system can witness additional stock losses of 0.25% of sales value. As a result, many retailers are hesitant about the adoption of these systems. Therefore, these factors are expected to hamper the global self checkout system market growth over the forecast period.

Reluctance to use self-checkout system

Many consumers are reluctant to use self-checkout systems, typically due to a lack of awareness. Other people are refusing to use self-checkout systems with the misconception that hinders the jobs of cashiers. Furthermore, some consumers have reported that they are not happy with the experience and thus have refused to use it. Therefore, these factors are expected to restrain the growth of the global self checkout system market during the forecast period.