Asia-Pacific key as self-checkout technology market booms
An increasingly diverse range of retailers are embracing self-checkout technology, from convenience with fuel firms to fashion chains, according to research from RBR.
2021 marked another record year of activity in this space, with 200,000 shipments globally.
The global market grew by 11% last year, boosted by strong demand in Asia-Pacific.
Major Chinese retailers continue to ramp up self-checkout deployments, while in Australia leading supermarket chains are adding more units per store. Elsewhere, pilot projects are underway at retailers across the region, including in Indonesia and Malaysia.
In Asia and beyond, cashless self-checkout terminals are becoming ever more common.
The proportion of terminals delivered which do not accept cash rose to 61%, with retailers often reconfiguring their checkout zones with an increasing number of compact self-service units of this type.
Self-checkout units are installed by an increasingly varied mix of operators, including both high-volume and speciality retailers.
Recent deployers include convenience with fuel chains Royal Farms and Spinx, homeware retailer Bed Bath and Beyond, and fashion firm LC Waikiki.
Self-checkout technology continues to diversify as retailers look to streamline the scanning and payment processes. Some terminals can automatically recognise items to be checked out so that customers do not need to scan them.
Meanwhile, Russia's X5 Retail Group has introduced facial recognition software for payment at 50 of its supermarkets.
Customers increasingly expect the choice of self-service when shopping; by 2027, global shipments are set to surpass 300,000 units.
Rising minimum wages in countries such as Canada and South Korea as well as labour shortages, in Poland for example, may further encourage retailers to introduce self-checkout terminals.
RBR’s Alan Burt says: “The self-checkout market is evolving rapidly; use cases are diversifying alongside the technology. With adoption increasing in major markets where it had previously been slow, such as Germany and South Korea, RBR is forecasting strong growth.”
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