Over recent years we have all heard that Amazon, fresh from conquering all things e-commerce, was going to shake the world of brick-and-mortar retail with a new concept: cashierless stores.

Branded as “Amazon Go”, the stores use a range of technology to monitor what shoppers take from the shelves, after which they can just walk out of the store without any checkout process, and payment is automatically taken through their Amazon account.

Many have heralded the idea as the inevitable future of grocery shopping (and many other retailers around the world have started developing and implementing their own versions of the concept), while others have derided it as a novelty that is too expensive to set up and difficult to maintain.

The outcomes have been mixed. While its urban convenience stores have seen some success, Amazon has drastically slowed down its plans to open new Amazon Go outlets (and has recently halted their expansion in the UK, where they are branded “Amazon Fresh”), even while other retail brands push on with opening their own cashierless stores.

But what about customers? When you get past the novelty of the new tech, is this actually the experience people are looking for?

For some, it’s an emphatic YES. It’s exactly what they want, and they want it every time they shop. But, as the British say, it’s not everyone’s cup of tea.

Recent global research, commissioned by Glory, delivered some intriguing insights into what consumers want and expect from their checkout experience.

80% of consumers agreed that it is important for retailers to provide a choice of checkout options.

And when they get to the checkout, about a quarter choose self-checkout every time, a quarter choose a staffed checkout every time, but around half of all respondents said they choose the checkout option that best meets their needs at that moment.

The fact is, more consumers today want choice. Choice in what they buy, where they buy it, how they pay for it, and the experience they get on the day.

Which begs the question, do cashierless stores actually diminish consumer choice?

Well, not exactly. It’s just that with these stores, the choice is made before you walk in the door. You are choosing the self-checkout aisle (or no-checkout aisle in this case) at the start of your experience instead of at the end. Rather than providing choice, they are a choice.

While the number of people looking for that experience today may be more limited, this will likely grow over time, and cashierless stores may well be the future of retail. But for the average store today, providing choice at the checkout is the best bet they can make.

Glory is invested in transforming customer experience for the better. Whatever choice you are looking to provide for your customers – whether you are seeking a state-of-the-art self-checkout solution, you want to drive efficiency in your staffed checkout aisle, or even looking to design a cashierless store yourself, get in touch with our team to discover the solutions we and our partners can deliver.