Research Suggests Shoppers Hate to Wait

NACS
August 27, 2018
Half of surveyed shoppers say the checkout experience is “very important” when it comes choosing where to shop.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Grocery shoppers say they’d be willing switch stores if they can get checked out faster, according to a new study from Forrester Research and Digimarc, a technology innovation organization.
As reported in Supermarket News, the length of the checkout line is very important to shoppers and can influence the shopping decisions of the almost 40% of shoppers who are not loyal to a single grocery location.
The study revealed three crucial factors influencing a shopper’s decision of where to shop. The first two—price and location—were a given, and when it came to checkout experience, 50% of respondents listed it as “very important” and another 35% cited it as “important.
“Shoppers today have less time than ever to get their grocery shopping done, and they want it to be a fast and easy experience,” according to the report. More than half of shoppers are willing to spend less in a store, or even walk away entirely, to avoid a slow checkout.
Three-quarters of shoppers do not shop exclusively at any grocery store, indicating that they won’t hesitate to bring their business to a competitor for faster checkout. Long lines and a poor checkout experience are the third-highest reason shoppers would go elsewhere—after location and price—cited by 18% of respondents.
Forrester predicts that in the next five years, online grocery shopping will nearly double, growing from $185 billion in 2018 to $334 billion in 2022. To compete with the convenience of online shopping, the report concluded, retailers must improve the in-store experience, and that means a faster checkout.