What self-checkout taught us about corporate responsibility

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what’s not said. UX research allows us to understand what users think, feel and say in the current moment, but what about 5, 10, 20 years down the road? What impact will significant change make, and how can we get ahead of that?

We’re seeing the long term impacts of social media today, with band-aid laws being put in place to protect children from early exposure. I’m not sure what could have changed in the roll-out of social media – but if we knew what we know today about the impact, I can’t imagine it would be the same.

Users can only say what the experience is in the moment, but aren’t armed with information about the long-term impact. Having a product that’s popular isn’t enough, we have a responsibility to think beyond, on the users behalf.

What I’ve come up with as a measure, is that the impact needs to be consistent with company values (it’s actually one of the biggest arguments I have for staying true to company values). I would argue that considering the impact (both good and bad) will actually allow you to add value and increase brand loyalty.

Okay okay, big statement, but stick with me – take the example of self-checkout.

What users say about their preferences for self-checkout

This one was a big ‘win’ for grocery stores everywhere. Rave reviews: 63% of people aged 18 to 29 prefer self-checkout (45% of people aged 30 to 44)*.

77% say they prefer it because it’s faster, 36% prefer the shorter lines, and 43% prefer to bag their own items. (ncrvoyix.com)

These advantages can’t be argued, it was a big evolution for busy-bees everywhere. But it’s important to think about this from the impact side as well – just giving people what they say they want isn’t responsible.

Job loss, social isolation, and brand loyalty impacts

Despite what we think, small human interactions with strangers increase our daily satisfaction in life. A study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology showed that while commuters thought they’d prefer to sit in silence, they actually reported a far more satisfied commute when they interacted with a stranger (bps.org.uk).

Social isolation is becoming increasingly recognized as a major health concern. In a study, social isolation was found to be ‘particularly frequent in disadvantaged socioeconomic groups‘. Small daily interactions are a significant part of the human experience. (pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)

Beyond that, hundreds of thousands of people lost their jobs to self-checkout. Among some customers, it created a revolt (cbc.ca).

What if we’d considered values before implementing the change?

Say we roll on back to when self-checkouts were being tested and evaluated. At the time, we would identify the benefits to the consumer pretty clearly, but weighing impact against values is more nuanced. A little snippet of what major chains are saying about their values:

• Sobeys: “We are a family nurturing families.”
• Loblaws: “Helping Canadians Live Life Well®”
• Metro: “Nourish the health and well-being of our communities”

You can’t tell me that laying off thousands of employees and perpetuating social isolation is in-line with those big statements.

Doesn’t mean we have to halt all progress

But rollout could have been combined with responsible practices like:

• Mandatory employee available at any self-checkout station, ready to help, and thanking customers on the way out
• Shorter regular checkout lines, so line length isn’t a factor in customer choice
• Increased support on the floor
• Relocating former checkout staff as samplers or other roles
• Self-checkout UI personalization and warmth

The problem: the workforce reduction ROI argument falls apart. Companies are left with a hard decision to justify when there’s no immediate cost saving.

Sticking to values is a risk, but in this case, it could have paid off in increased brand loyalty, which is ultimately a far more valuable asset than the short-term monetary gain of a reduced workforce.

As brand loyalty hits are revealed, Booths removes self-checkouts, dutch store opens a ‘slow line’

Since roll out, studies have come out showing a connection between regular checkout experience and customer loyalty (drexel.edu).

“Our findings indicate that self-checkout systems, despite their advantages in terms of speed, ease of use, and cost reduction, can result in lower customer loyalty compared to regular checkout systems, especially when the number of purchased items is relatively high (e.g., more than 15 items),”
Yanliu Huang, PhD

Some stores are making changes to align with their values:

“We like to talk to people and we’re really proud that we’re moving largely to a place where our customers are served by people, by human beings, so rather than artificial intelligence, we’re going for actual intelligence.”
Booths managing director Nigel Murray (Self-service: Booths supermarket puts staff back behind its tills)

A dutch supermarket, Jumbo, introduced a slow line for those who would like to chat a bit (scoop.upworthy.com). Come on, that has to warm your heart a bit, no?

Considering impact in future disruptive change

By measuring impact against company values, we can know when to supplement, and when to pass on technical advancements and automation in order to build brand loyalty. It’s not enough to listen to what the users want, we have a responsibility to get ahead of long-term impact on their behalf.