Supermarket giant Woolworths is rolling out a brand new storefront experience that it claims will change the way Australians shop for groceries.
In the age of automation, the grocery chain said it will launch a series of redesigned hybrid stores, which blend self-service with manned registers.
This comes as customers shift towards smaller but more frequent basket sizes, with shoppers continuing to push fuller carts and preferring to use manned checkout points.
“As customers’ purchasing habits shift, we are seeing smaller and more frequent basket sizes, and a strong customer preference for a faster and easier self-checkout experience,” a Woolworths spokesperson said.
“For a basket of 20 items or less, 83 percent of our customers choose self-checkout, while for a basket of more than 20 items, the majority of our customers choose staffed checkout.”
“But we know there are some customers who prefer to be served by a team member, and we are gradually rolling out a new front-of-store experience where we use data to ensure we have the right payment options for customers in every local community.”
The new format will provide a “great customer experience for customers to continue to be served” by employees if they choose, a company spokesperson said, and express lanes are already in place in about 800 stores.
Images provided of the newly opened Woolworths store in Spotswood in Melbourne’s south-west show dual service counters with multiple staffed checkout points, as well as the now more common self-service kiosks.
It comes as both supermarkets try to adapt to a growing population facing cost-of-living pressures, including changes to loyalty and discount programs and the continuation of “straight to boot” service programs in the Covid era.
