Contactless Shopping: Why Customers Love Scan and Go
Every week, more retail stores are adopting contactless scanning in their stores. It’s a significant change, given that even a few years ago, the concept of ‘Scan and Go’ was considered a flash in the pan.
So what has driven this change of heart? The pandemic has certainly played its role. But customer demand for convenient contactless shopping continues to grow. In this blog we look at the top 5 reasons why customers love Scan and Go.
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Jump to key topics
1. It’s far faster for busy shoppers
There is a common misconception that grocery shopping has become more efficient for shoppers since the widespread introduction of self-checkout kiosks. But the truth is the opposite. In our recent Ebook, we found that customers using checkout kiosks take on average 4 minutes longer than using a traditional checkout with a member of staff!
The reason for these delays is that customers frequently have problems getting checkout kiosks to work as they want, meaning that a staff member has to be nearby to fix the issues as they occur. So why is a Scan and Go option better? Customers get to use their own smartphone, a tool they know well and understand, meaning they can seamlessly scan their items and pay, just like they would for online shopping. A perfect solution for the time-poor shopper!
2. It creates more space for the products they love
Another consumer advantage of contactless shopping is the extra space which becomes available with the removal of large and cumbersome checkout counters. For smaller grocery stores, especially those located in expensive cities, every square foot counts. That means when customers can take the checkout with them in their back pocket, they can also enjoy a greater variety of items in store, and will make larger purchases per visit.
3. It Empowers Your Health-Conscious and Independent Shoppers
One of the many permanent changes of the pandemic has been an increase in shoppers who want to maintain their social distance in-store. According to the Wall Street Journal, these customers are now shopping less, but buying more.
When given the option to self-scan their own items, health conscious shoppers will be happier to handle their own checkout. And by paying through their own phone, they can reduce the need to touch any screens or counters.
Not only does a contactless shopping system give these shoppers the confidence to return to their favorite stores, but it’s also super convenient. They just scan, pay and leave.
4. Your associates have more time to help those that need assistance
While some shoppers are happier to scan and go without any interaction, this is of course not for everyone. Many shoppers, particularly those who need assistance, will continue to rely on in-store associates to complete their shopping.
By implementing contactless shopping, staff are no longer bound to their checkouts, and have more time to assist shoppers in need of greater support. Not only does this create more interesting work for employees, but improves the quality of each interaction they have with shoppers, leading to an enhanced customer experience.
5. It works on any camera-enabled smartphone
Finally, customers love ‘scan and go’ shopping because it just works. With a scanning SDK integrated into your customer app, shoppers can use their own smartphone just like an enterprise-grade barcode scanner.
For retailers that have an existing customer app, or which are in the process of creating one, Anyline scanning solutions are built to work on iOS, Android and Windows, while also offering support for common integration frameworks including Xamarin, React Native and Cordova. Test it for yourself today with our demo app, or get the 30-day free trial for our SDK.
