Self Checkout

Gen Z’s habit of swiping extends past their phones. The young generation of shoppers also admit to swiping from retail stores, a habit that’s only become easier with the advent of self-checkout kiosks.

Young shoppers have a stronger affinity for self-checkout than older generations, a survey this week from Avery Dennison found. More than half of Gen Z and millennial respondents said that a self-checkout option would be a reason for them to switch retailers, compared 41% of Gen X and 30% of Baby Boomer shoppers.

While Gen Z customers said that self checkout is faster, and they enjoy not having to wait in line or interact with others, there’s another reason why they may love self-service shopping: It’s easy to steal.

Almost one-third (31%) of Gen Z shoppers have admitted to shoplifting from self-checkout aisles compared to 15% of shoppers overall, according to a November LendingTree survey of 2,000 U.S. consumers. Almost half of Gen Z participants (46%) said they plan to lift the most expensive item in their cart, while 37% said they will loot the basics, such as food and water.

Gen Z’s spending power is increasing, making it crucial for retailers to attract young buyers, including so-called frictionless shopping opportunities that make paying easier. But self-checkout sleights of hand are having a real impact on retailers, with Walmart, Costco, and Wegmans are cutting down on kiosks, citing intentional shoplifting as reason for doing so. Satisfying a growing customer base while trying to protect from theft has left retailers unsure how to approach the future of automated checkout.

"While self-checkout is convenient, it certainly poses a risk for shoplifting,” LendingTree Chief Credit Analyst Matt Schulz said in a statement. “Ultimately, retailers need to decide whether the self-checkout terminals are worth the risk.”

Walmart, Costco, and Wegmans did not respond to Fortune’s request for comment.

Designed to increase convenience and ease labor costs, self-checkout kiosks have cost retailers in shrink, or inventory lost due to poor record-keeping or theft. For UK, U.S. and European retailers, the mobile scan-related shrinkage rate, 3.97%, was more than twice the overall shrinkage rate of 1.79%, according to a 2017 study in Security Journal.

In September, Walmart pulled self-checkout lanes from at least three New Mexico stores, opting to bring back cashiers to ring up groceries. Walmart employees and shoppers said elf checkout was responsible for a stealing surge.


Some sticky-fingered Gen Z shoppers believe that shoplifting is justified and that corporations have too large a stranglehold on the economy, leaving small businesses to suffer.

“We have so many companies that don’t care about their customers, only making money,” one shoplifting teen told Vice. “If we can punish the corporation, we feel we have done our best.”............

https://fortune.com/2024/01/23/self...gested_search&utm_campaign=search_link_clicks