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TRENDS
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Do-It-Yourself
Checkout Offers Convenience
By Laurie Burstein
Just like gas stations, banks and post offices, now grocery stores
in the St. Louis area have begun offering self service. New technology
lets customers scan, bag and pay for groceries, all on their own.
Dierbergs’ Self Checkout Express debuted in December at their newest
store, Brentwood Pointe on Eager Road. The store has four self-checkout
lanes open from 6:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. seven days a week.
“Customers today are comfortable with the convenience of self-service,”
says Angela Triplett, an IT training specialist with Dierbergs who
is responsible for implementing the system. “For customers who are
just stopping in for a quick item or two, they appreciate the availability
of this new, convenient way to check out. The option is there if
they’d like to use it.”
Triplett explains that self-checkout is designed to accommodate
customers with 15 items or less in their grocery carts. Customers
can pay with cash, checks, credit cards or ATM/debit cards. Voice
prompts and instructions on touch-screen monitors walk customers
through the process and an associate is always on-site to assist
customers and answer questions.
The Schnucks on Dorsett Road in Maryland Heights was the first grocery
store in the region to offer self checkout about a year ago and
customer reaction has been very positive. “Self checkout has been
very popular with our lunchtime customers and with customers who
have forgotten an item and are coming through for the second time,”
says Dorsett store Co-Manager Mark Harris.
The system includes a monitor that enables Schnucks associates to
watch the process from a nearby station and provide help when needed.
Voice prompts guide customers through the process while special
sensors alert Schnucks associates to cigarette and liquor purchases
so age identification can be verified at the time of purchase. The
self-checkout lane accepts cash, ATM/debit, EBT and credit cards
but does not take checks. Self-service lanes are open from 7 a.m.
to 10 p.m. every day.
The new do-it-yourself technology does take some getting used to
however. For example, produce and salad bar items must be weighed
and coded, which is a bit more complicated. But for most people,
it’s easy to learn after a time or two. Harris says that 30 percent
of the customers at the Schnucks Dorsett store use the self-checkout
system, substantially higher than expected.
And Triplett says there are some older customers who have never
used a computer, but like the self-checkout at Dierbergs, because
of the ease and convenience. Dierbergs has added two additional
stores with the system and has plans to add more during the next
year.
Self-checkout at the grocery store is now part of the shopping experience
for today’s busy consumers and offers the ultimate in customer convenience.
Laurie Burstein is a St. Louis-based free-lance writer |
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