One of the worst parts about shopping is dealing with checkout lines. At the height of business hours, these lines can stretch to five, six, and sometimes even ten customers.
Many companies have been adding self-checkout lines in an effort to speed things up and cut down on their own cost. That’s why it came as a surprise when Walmart just announced that they will no longer be trying to increase the number of self-checkout lines in their stores, but they have a very good reason for doing that.
Walmart introduced the “Scan and Go” technology so that customers could get in and out of the store as fast as possible. This technology allowed them to scan items on their phone as they browsed the store and then pay easily as they left.
“We’re always looking for new ways to help our customers save time, and these innovations are just the latest examples of how we continue to invest in our stores and bring greater convenience to customers,” Ray Korsch, a marketing manager with Walmart said in an official statement.
However, Walmart has quickly learned that customers do not want to deal with this confusing technology. Instead of helping improve customer experience, these kiosks make customers do everything themselves, and they often aren’t any faster than normal checkout lines.
“It took Walmart almost a year to figure out what the rest of us already know: You can’t convince customers to do the job of a cashier just because you don’t want to pay for the work, especially when eliminating cashiers doesn’t result in more convenient shopping,” said Randy Parraz, a Making Change at Walmart (MCAW) director.
Realizing they made a mistake, Walmart will now be hiring more cashiers! They want to go back to worrying about customer experience rather than just thinking of cutting costs. We’re glad to see that Walmart’s priorities are back where they belong!
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