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Sep 01, 2023

Ms. Cheap: Kroger goes all self

By Ivan Aronin | on August 02, 2023 I actually like to check myself out and bag my own groceries at the supermarket. It helps me to keep track of prices (to be sure they are correct) and I like to

By Ivan Aronin | on August 02, 2023

I actually like to check myself out and bag my own groceries at the supermarket.

It helps me to keep track of prices (to be sure they are correct) and I like to sort my purchases in bags according to where they need to go once I get home.

And the self-check seems faster most of the time.

So, when I heard that Kroger was going all self-check at some of its stores — blazing the trail with its Cool Springs store on Mallory Lane — I was not alarmed.

But my husband, who hates self-check, was horrified. He has often vowed to NEVER use self-check. In fact, he recently told me that if he walked into a grocery store that was exclusively self-check, he would walk right out!

Oh well, two sides to every story, and change is always a challenge. But, sad for my husband, it looks like self-check is the future of grocery shopping because of labor challenges, technological advances, shopper willingness and grocery sales trends.

“Kroger is always looking for ways to improve the customer and associate experience and ensure a smooth and friendly checkout,” said Lauren Bell, spokeswoman for Kroger in the Middle Tennessee division, in announcing the changeover at the Cool Spring area store.

Bell said that the Mallory Lane location was selected for as the first self-check location because customers there were “already utilizing the existing self-checkout kiosks at a significantly higher rate compared to other stores in our division.”

The changeover, which took place July 21, is part of a national grocery trend. Bell said conversions have been done at several other Kroger stores in Ohio and Texas.

Now the Hillsboro Village store here is next in line, with its conversion planned for later this year. But that is it for now, Bell said.

“Those are the only two stores in our division that will move to this model,” she said.

As far as the Mallory Lane store’s conversion, it includes “the addition of new belted checkout lanes to accommodate customers with larger baskets and increases the number of checkout lanes now available to customers at this store,” she said.

For comparison purposes, she said, “there were four manned lanes before. The store now has four belted self-checkout lanes and 12 of the smaller traditional self-checkout kiosks. The wide-belted self-checkouts can accommodate large volume purchases and look a lot like regular cashier-staffed checkout lanes, with bagging stations at the end of each.”

Bell emphasized that “Kroger associates remain at checkout, assisting customers scan and bag groceries,” and added that the changeover will result in “no reduction in labor.

“No positions have been eliminated due to this conversion. The store is currently hiring,” she said.

According to grocery industry publication Grocery Dive, a VideoMining study “found that shoppers are increasingly embracing self-checkout, with usage increasing by 53% in five years and by 17% from 2020 to 2022.

“The shopper insights firm, which works with retailers including Target, Walmart and Family Dollar, credits this boost in self-checkout utilization to the option being more available as shoppers gravitate toward self-service tools.

“Grocers have also expanded self-checkout services to improve the customer experience: 70% of shoppers did not have to wait in line at all in 2022 — a significant increase from only 19% of shoppers in 2017,” according to VideoMining’s study.

“Aside from an improved customer experience, self-checkout has also boosted grocers’ front-end sales. The report states there was a 162% jump in dollars per 100 store visitors sold from self-checkout merchandising in 2022 compared to 2020. During this same two-year period, grocers altered their front-end merchandising strategies to offer more products.

“Even with the wait time in self-checkout lanes being shorter, shoppers are engaging with products offered at the front end of the store at a higher rate, according to the study.

“Despite the growing success of self-checkout for grocers, traditional checkout lanes still account for a higher amount of overall sales, per the study. The traditional checkout option outperformed self-checkout lanes by 38% in terms of dollars per 100 store visitors in 2022.

“However, this performance gap between traditional checkout and self-checkout is narrowing and will continue to do so, according to VideoMining’s report,” the Grocery Dive article said.

I guess my husband is just going to have to get used to grocery self-check or send me to the store for our household shopping.

Mary Hance, who has four decades of journalism experience in the Nashville area, writes a weekly Ms. Cheap column. She also appears on Thursdays on Talk of the Town on NewsChannel5. Reach her at [email protected] and follow her on Facebook as Facebook.com/mscheap

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