The Till-Free Revolution
The UK supermarket giant Sainsbury’s has launched its own till-free grocery store in Holborn Circus, London. The concept joins Amazon’s take on the till-free revolution. Sainsbury’s method is that the customer will need to download the supermarket’s Smartshop app in order to scan the barcodes and once the customer has finished shopping, they just simply pay via Google Pay or Apple Pay. The checkout area and tills have been removed during the three-month trial period. Customers can still pay by cash or card, however, customers would have to go to the helpdesk manned by a single member of staff for those who aren’t aware that the store is a till-free store. All alcoholic drinks and cigarettes have been removed from the store, as they require age-verification from a member of staff.
While the future is to speed up the shopping experience and to divert staff members’ times on tills and onto the shop floor to improve the customer experience, big stores like Amazon and Sainsbury’s are trialling out new ways to improve the shopping experience. Already in a number of big supermarket stores in the UK, there are scan and shop facilities which allow customers to scan while they shop and then pay at a self-scan till. Even though the uptake of this method is slow, people are either afraid to use the new method or just don’t know about it. This will be the same when till-free stores arrive, uptake of till-free stores will be slow if given the option. Although if forced, the uptake and visibility of till-free shopping will increase.
A couple of areas to consider before till-free shopping goes viral are the security of shoplifters and how to combat them and how to deal with products that need age-verification. Even now through online shopping, you can purchase products that only customers of a certain age can purchase, however that is easy to bypass. Another point is that the till-free experience is currently being experimented at grocery stores, but how about electronic stores or retail stores such as clothing? In most retail stores, you can already purchase products online and get your purchased products delivered to the store for pick-up which is great for convenience.
If there is a need for a till-free shopping experience, why not expand on the idea of shopping online and turning up to your store with your shopping ready to be taken home. In your local store they may not stock a certain product even though it's available for sale online. The ability to get certain products delivered to store to be purchased would enhance the shopping experience.
Another negative point of till-free stores is the impact it will have on jobs, although this will depend on how stores shuffle their staff to cover other areas such as security, stock control and online orders.
Another factor is that till-free shopping could be used to benefit grocery or retail stores; it will enable staff to deliver a more personal shopping experience. In the clothing sector, staff will be able to help customers pick out outfits suitable to the customer and then the customer can just scan the product and purchase the recommended item without having to go to the till. This will enable non-luxury stores to deliver a more personal shopping experience which high-end luxury stores are able to deliver today. The next revolution in shopping is the ability to deliver a more personal shopping experience that is all about the customer and not about hitting sales target.
Are till-free stores the way forward or do they already exist today via scan and shop facilities?