Pick n Pay tests self service outlets

A picture of a self-service check-out machine at one of retailer Pick n Pay’s stores has caused a mix of both horror and glee, much of which was expressed on social media.

But Pick n Pay’s group executive for strategy and corporate affairs, David North, said the machine was merely in test phase in one store in Cape Town.

Pick n Pay is currently South Africa’s second largest retail chain store and is present in 6 other African countries.

“We are always looking at new ways to help our customers by making their shopping trip easier and more convenient. In this case we are testing self-service checkouts in one store to see if it can save customers time at the till — particularly those in a hurry and shopping for just a few items.”

North added: “We see it as an additional service and we are testing it in one store. Staff are required to monitor self-service checkouts and there is no impact on employment.”

Self-service machines are not foreign to SA. In 2007, Airports Company SA (Acsa) unveiled self-service check-in kiosks at major airports. The service has since been extended to all nine Acsa airports in the country.

In July this year, the Health Department announced it was piloting a pharmacy dispensing unit — where patients could obtain their medication from self-service ATM-style machines.

Pick n Pay’s check-out machine is the first of its kind in the local retail market, but the technology is popular in the US and Europe.

Olea Kiosks CEO Frank Olea said self-service technologies changed how consumers behaved.

“One factor that causes consumers to behave differently when using an automated order system, such as a self-service kiosk, is that there is no potential for social judgment by a human server or cashier,” said Olea.

In an experiment with self-service technologies in a liquor store setting, researchers found that users of the self-service kiosk were 8% more likely to purchase hard-to-pronounce items than those that used standard checkout with a human cashier, Olea said.