I was recently at the Shawnessy Superstore in South Calgary and noticed the store was undergoing major renovations.  The whole store is in the process of being redesigned, including the front-end checkouts.  In fact, the checkouts have already undergone the design change.

This design change incorporates one very long conveyor belt that holds all merchandise and groceries.  Then, the cashier rings the items through and directs them to one of two noticeably shorter conveyor belts that customers can access in a “bag-your-own” style of system.

These shorter belts do not hold as many items as they did before the design change.  After questioning a few cashiers and listening to observations and viewpoints, it appears as though some customers are generally not as happy with these newer design changes.  This begs the question, was consumer testing undertaken before the changes were made?

After my big order was scanned through and placed on the belt, there was an ever-increasing pressure to bag them fast or else they simply would not fit.  The result would be a pile-up of my items into each other.  In other words, customers are forced to be even faster and more efficient than before.

In addition to this, the button that advances the belt is not an easy feel-and-push button. I looked and bent down a number of times to see the button that advances the belt.  When trying to go fast, a user-friendlier button could have worked better.  Maybe a foot pedal could be an idea in the future?

Have these design changes gone a little too far in the name of efficiency? Is efficiency the only goal or should other factors be considered as well? Is customer satisfaction being undermined?

Superstore incorporates the bagging your own groceries concept, which allows for reduced prices since the store is not employing extra people to bag groceries.  Reduced prices attract customers but customer satisfaction also attracts customers.

Self-checkouts were designed for efficiency-purposes, to allow customers to bypass the long waiting queues.  They can be pretty speedy unless you get behind someone who can’t figure it out.  Therefore, self-checkouts aren’t always faster. They have also been known to have up to five times more unintentional or intentional theft.

The Albertsons grocery chain in the US recently got rid of all self-checkouts in its 217 stores.  The company decided that self-checkouts impacted their brand image around service, and it wanted to encourage more human contact with customers. Kroger, the largest grocery chain in the US with 2,500 outlets is experimenting with removing all self-checkouts in at least one Texas store.  Publix, another major chain, is “on the fence” about self-checkouts.

With many retailers operating in Canada finishing their fiscal year in Q1, we have now been able to update our SINS Canadian Retailer Year In Review report which provides easy to read one-page summaries of 23 publicly traded retailers with operations in Canada.

This report is designed to give you a quick snapshot on the performance of each retailer and the strategic objectives they will be chasing over the next year.

It’s a great resource for preparing for Top to Top Meetings or starting Business Planning for 2013.

Updated retailers include:

Loblaw
Walmart
Shoppers Drug Mart
Target
Canadian Tire
Home Depot
RONA
Lowe’s
Sears Canada
Safeway
Northwest Company
Dollarama
Staples
Dollar Tree
Big Lots!

Download your copy here.