Somerfield has clocked 75 per cent of customer sales going through self-checkout tills in one day at its Manchester Piccadilly store. Weekly averages are more than 45 per cent of sales at the store, only three weeks after the store opened.
The self-checkout tills, provided by Optimal Robotics, are faring slightly less well at the retailer's Chelsea store, with an average weekly percentage of the store's sales at 30 per cent. However, even that performance has surpassed the retailer's expectations.
The project initiator, Somerfield store systems executive Darrell Maton, was led to expect a return on investment in the tills after less than four years.
However, that was at a 25 per cent share of store sales. He predicts that this calculation could be halved if the present customer traffic through the tills continues.
Somerfield business systems project manager for self checkout David Thompson suggests that the popularity of the tills may be because they are perceived to be quicker.
'With younger customers it's just another piece of technology, but even older customers are not finding the technology a problem,' he said. 'The tills favour smaller basket sizes, but it does mean that the kiosks are totally decongested.'
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