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Self-Checkout Market Set to Explode Due to Mobile Boom

According to recent research from Global Market Insights, the global value of the retail self checkout market is set to increase by around $3,000,000,000 (yes, that's three billion) dollars over the next 5 years.

What that means in layman's terms, is that those ugly self checkout kiosks you currently find in places like Big W, K-Mart, Woolies etc. are about to appear in a lot more places. Up until now, these types of systems have been only realistic for the types of retailers that have the size and the financial capability to do it. They are costly, beastly and difficult to justify for the average retailer.

But if you've been paying attention, you'll know that something a little more exciting is also happening. Mobile self-checkout. Not only is it happening, it's going to be the next big thing in retail. And it's been spurred on by mass adoption of smartphones, and of course, the pandemic.

Explain Mobile Self-Checkout Please

Mobile self-checkout platforms allow a shopper to use their phone to check-out in a retail store themselves. There are a few retailers in Australia already offering this service, such as Ikea, Bunnings, Woolworths and probably a few more planning it too (well we know some for a fact 😎). The business take-up of these kinds of retailer-branded mobile self check-out solutions that integrate with your existing software and hardware infrastructure is, again, something that is costly to the point of it being nigh-impossible for the average retailer to justify. A custom app development project alone is usually north of a $100,000 investment, and more often than not much higher than that.

According to GMI, "use of mobile self check-out that offer improved convenience and flexibility will fuel the market demand". Wow, what great news for TAGR! You should probably book a demo before your competitors do. Click here, let's talk.

Mobile self-checkout isn't the newest thing out there, and it's had it's teething problems as a technology. Designing a mobile self check-out experience that also achieves business goals is no easy feat. Many retailers have created and subsequently abandoned efforts, mostly because customers just simply don't want what they're offering and they can't figure out why. However our team of great minds know that the main reason this happens is because customers are not fools. They are conditioned to expect perfect mobile user experiences and they know when they are being forced to do something that's not in their best interests. The world's biggest technology companies invest millions of dollars per year in refinement of their digital customer experience on applications such as Facebook, Instagram, Google Chrome, Safari, YouTube, WeChat, TikTok and all the other household name applications that everyone is completely addicted to.

What they all have specifically in common is that they put the customer experience first because they know it is essential for adoption and repeat use. It is a critical factor in all digital product design, especially mobile product design and it can never deviate, lest your adoption suffers (I'm looking at you Facebook). It is always customer experience before everything when it comes to digital. When retailers approach mobile self-checkout with the same mentality and the same goals that unleashed the self checkout kiosk monstrosity onto the world, they won't get the same result. If their goals are simply to gather customer data or to save costs on resources, and customer experience is made to fit around the business goal as opposed to being the primary business objective their customers won't use it. It will happen again, and again, until they figure it out.

One of the most simple issues that has caused this is that the majority of self check-out applications are retailer branded apps that require downloading, keeping on your phone, signing up to an account and using over and over again in order to even justify having them to begin with. Think about it. The only way most people can justify downloading such an app would be if you make a commitment to shopping near exclusively in that store. Why would you download the Woolworths app, if you intend to shop at Woolies, Coles, Aldi etc. based on whatever is most convenient at the time? Are you going to download all three of their apps? So you have to remember to use all three apps to gather the loyalty points at all three locations? Hell does Aldi even have an app? It's just asking way too much of the shopper.

The Secret ... Mobile Apps Are Not Good for Adoption

It blows people's minds when I tell them this. I have been consulting on digital transformation, website and app projects for many years and have learned that if you want customers to adopt something, whether it's a product, a service, or a new behaviour, apps are terrible for it. Because you are essentially interrupting their adoption and asking them to make a gigantic commitment beforehand. Downloading an app on their phone? Are you serious? Half of people are spending 5-6 hours a day on their phone. That's like asking them to put a screen on their coffee table that gives you direct access to them. Again, people are not dumb. People value their digital security. Because it goes hand in hand with their physical and mental security.

And TAGR, is not an app, and doesn't require a sign-up. It's really as easy as scan, pay and go. So let's chat about getting it up and running in your store.