Self-Checkout Survey

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The recent study ‘Global EPOS and Self-Checkout 2009’ carried out by Retail Banking Research (RBR), found that the number of self-checkout terminals (SCOs) had reached 92,600 by the end of 2008. The study, which was carried out in the first half of 2009 and looked at retail automation, was composed of extensive primary and secondary research, showed that the number of self-checkout terminals installed around the world had increased by more than a quarter since the end of 2007. RBR forecasts that by the end of 2014, the numbers of self-checkout terminals installed around the world will have more than quadrupled to number 430,000. North America will account for more than half of this figure, Western Europe 32% and Asia-Pacific 13%.
 
The graph shows the world self-checkout terminals installed base from 2007-2014. The last decade has seen the retail industry, and in particular outlets like supermarkets and convenience stores, embrace the ethos of self-service at the point-of-sale. Many of the world’s top retailers, including Wal-Mart, Carrefour and Tesco, have rolled out self-checkouts in selected countries.
 
The number of self-checkout units installed worldwide increased by 28% in 2008. North America has the highest number of self-checkouts installed, with the 74,000 units installed there at the end of 2008 representing 80% of the total worldwide. Western Europe has 15,000 such kiosks, Asia-Pacific 3,000 while the other regions had less than 700 terminals between them. The research also found that, in 2008, 22,800 self-checkout shipments were made, which was more than 19% from the year before.
 
There are a variety of reasons why these self-checkouts are growing so healthily. Self-checkout terminals more than double the number of points of sale that can be made available to customers in the same space as regular EPOS terminals, and one attendant can usually supervise four or more such kiosks so employees can be redeployed to improve service elsewhere in store. Customers also perceive the checkout time to be quicker when they use self-service, and they also feel more in control in that they can be sure all discount are correctly registered. Self-checkouts can also deliver a sense of privacy to customers.
 
A potentially huge market for self-checkouts is Japan, which although it is one of the world’s largest markets for assisted EPOS terminals, it still has a relatively small market in terms of self-checkouts. Japan have not accepted the idea that self-checkout increase the level of service to the same extent as Europe and North America.
 
RBR’s research also showed that NCR, Fujitsu, IBM and Wincor Nixdorf are the leading self-checkout manufacturers, both in terms of the number of shipments they delivered in 2008 and the size of their installed bases at the end of 2008. These four vendors account for 99% of the world’s self-checkout market.