With shrink hitting returns, some retailers are rescanning self-checkout strategies
Unexpected update in bagging area… Retailers that’ve leaned into self-checkout are taking a second look at their receipts as costs and losses pile up. Walmart, Costco, Kroger, and Amazon have recently adjusted scan-it-yourself strategies, removing kiosks or adding new, potentially intrusive tech to make them less vulnerable to theft (retailers with self-checkout have higher rates of theft).
Hands-on: Walmart announced that a handful of stores are being renovated to replace self-checkout lanes with OG registers. It also assigned more employees to the lanes to help (and monitor) shoppers. This year, Amazon closed eight of its cashier-less Go stores.
Supervision: Costco has started stationing workers at self-checkouts to check IDs against membership cards. Kroger invested in AI that monitors customers as they bag — and it dispatches employees to investigate abnormalities.
Price tag: As more employees head to the DIY lane, and self-checkout’s role in theft becomes clearer, some experts are questioning how much $$ the tech actually saves companies.
Banana-scanning slipups… US retailers last year lost a record $112B+ to inventory shrink (items lost to theft, damage, or misplacement), and self-checkout may’ve played a role. Since unsupervised scanning can be easily manipulated (think: weighing a steak as grapes), losses can rise up to 60% above average in stores with self-checkouts. Companies like Costco and Best Buy that don’t rely as heavily on the tech have seen smaller shrink rates than rivals.
Trade-offs don’t always scan… While self-checkout tech can lower labor costs for companies, its role in shrink might not be cost-effective — especially if employees have to monitor the expensive kiosks anyway. That trade-off isn’t worth it to all retailers: Trader Joe’s has so far passed on self-checkout tech (opting for chatty cashiers), and Wegmans last year halted its self-checkout app.