The growing retail industry and technological advances aiding higher efficiency are adding to the demand for self-checkout.
A new research study by Technavio predicts the retail self-checkout terminals market to grow at a CAGR of almost 18% during the forecast period 2017-2021.
To determine the market size, the study considers revenue generated based on the total number of unit shipments and the new installations of self-checkout terminals in retail outlets.
Region wise, the Americas led the global retail self-checkout market with a market share of 44.25% in terms of unit shipments (2016 figures). With retail store chain like Walmart, Kroger and Safeway expanding their stores to many locations spread across the globe, the demand for self-checkout terminals has been increasing. Europe occupies the next largest market share, followed by APAC and MEA.
NCR is the market leader in the global retail self-checkout market with a share of almost 70%. The company provides solutions designed to improve the selling productivity, checkout processes, and service levels. These solutions include retail-oriented technologies such as point-of-sale (POS) terminals and software, barcode scanners, and self-service kiosks. Toshiba Tec and Fujitsu are the next biggest players in this market.
Technavio analysts highlight the following three factors that are contributing to the growth of the global retail self-checkout market:
Conversion of checkout lanes from assisted to self-service
Growing retail industry
Technological advances aiding higher efficiency
Conversion of checkout lanes from assisted to self-service
“The increasing conversion from assisted to self-service checkout across the retail sector globally has resulted in increased convenience and reduced time spent during checkout, which benefits both the consumers as well as retailers. Additionally, this move also helps increase the space inside stores, as these self-checkout terminals occupy a relatively small floor space,” said Poonam Saini, one of the lead analysts at Technavio for retail systems research.
These self-checkout terminals are especially helpful to ease waiting times during peak hours when customer influx is very high. Consumers can checkout and pay for their own products, giving more hands on the floor to help with sales and queries. This ensures better consumer interactions, leading to a more satisfied and loyal customer base. Thus, self-checkout counters are expected to be in extremely high demand during the market forecast period.
Growing retail industry
The swiftly growing retail industry has been witnessing the fastest adoption of the self-checkout terminals. In June 2016, CBE, which offers retail technology, installed self-checkout terminals in independent retail stores across the UK and Ireland. Additionally, self-checkout terminals are constantly upgraded with better technologies to keep up with the evolving needs of the consumers, which also brings in a constant stream of revenue to the market.
Developing countries in APAC, such as India and China are the expansive growth in the self-checkout market due to an increasing number of modern format retail stores. Developed economies like Europe are also creating a constant steady demand. With more convenience stores adopting self-checkout terminals, the self-checkout terminal market will continue to display healthy growth rates through the forecast period.
Technological advances aiding higher efficiency
Consumer demands are constantly evolving and their demands will vary accordingly. Vendors in the market space constantly upgrade their technology and add innovative features to establish a permanent foothold in the market. Retailers have been trying to leverage these new innovative technologies to benefit their own businesses by improving the customer experience.
“NCR, one of the key vendors in the market, announced the launch of FastLane SelfServ checkout terminals that are designed to offer faster and efficient service to shoppers. These terminals are designed to accept multiple bills at once and recycle up to eight different coin denominations and six different note denominations. Another notable mention is EasyFlow, by ITAB Shop Concept. It is a self-checkout system that works by offering barcode-free identification of goods services. Such innovations will definitely attract more customers to this relatively new market,” said Saini.
