Scan. Pay. Go.

So read the signs on Sam’s Club’s self-checkout stations.

The warehouse club is testing the do-it-yourself method at local stores and is one of a growing number of retailers offering the service.

Danny Carter tried Sam’s self-checkout for the first time Wednesday in Bentonville.

He’s used it before, just not at Sam’s. It’s been fully operational in Bentonville for about two weeks and is still being set up in Fayetteville.

“It’s good so far,” he said as he scanned the handful of items in his cart. “I like self-checkout because of the convenience and quickness of the system.”

Greg Buzek, president of IHL Group, said self-checkout is growing because it helps retailers pull in more profits. IHL Group is a global research and advisory fi rm specializing in technologies for the retail and hospitality industries.

“Self-checkout in the front end allows you to have more people in the back,” he said. Employees can spend their time selling to customers instead of checking them out.

Shoppers like being their own checkers because it helps them avoid lines, according to RichardMader, executive director of the Association for Retail Technology Standards, a division of the National Retail Federation.

“People hate lines. They want checkout to be quick,” he said.

Forrester Research reports the number of households using selfservice checkouts grew by 300 percent between 2006 and 2009, from 17 percent to 68 percent.

New At Sam’s

The warehouse club is the perfect environment for selfcheckout because it sells large items, said Carol Spieckerman, retail consultant with newmarketbuilders in Bentonville.

“It’s about time they do it,” she said.

Because of the bulk items stocked on Sam’s shelves, its self-checkout operates a bit dift erently than other retailers. Shoppers use a hand-held scanner to ring up items, keeping them from lifting heavy items out of their carts.

The Bentonville club has four terminals for the test - two with conveyor belts and two with a machine that looks like an ATM. An associate is on hand to help members learn how to operate the system and answer questions.

The stations only take payment by debit, credit or gift card.

As shoppers leave the store, a greeter matches their receipts to their basket items.

This is not new at Sam’s, but hasn’t always sent a positive message. Spieckerman said it sent the message of “we don’t trust you.”

“I think the self-checkout option cancels that out,” she said. “Self-serve environments send a message of trust.”

Sam’s was operating a hybrid of self-checkout during high-traffic times, Spieckerman said. This involved associates scanning a customer’s membership card and then their items with hand-held devices as they wait in line. Once that customer is at the front of the line all they have to do is give the checker their membership card and thetotal due appears on the register.

“I really think this was a test of self-checkout,” she said. “The checkout lines ata warehouse store are often long which is a turnoff to customers.”

Kristy Reed of Sam’s Club confirmed the system is being tested at the local stores but declined to provide any additional comment.

It’s not unusual for Walmart to test new ideas and formats in the area.

“We like to try things close to home se we can see it and play with it and tweak it a little bit,” Bill Simon, Walmart U.S. president and CEO, said during a recent investor conference.

Other new concepts introduced in Northwest Arkansas include the first Walmart on Campus that opened at the University of Arkansas earlier this year and three Walmart Express stores under construction in Benton and Washington counties.

Checkers Wanted

Self-checkout is almost 20 years old. The fi rst system was installed in 1992 at Price Chopper Supermarkets in New York. Price Chopper is a medium-size East Coast supermarket chain.

Grocery stores remain the most common place to find self-checkout stations, followed by drug and home improvement stores, Mader said.

Walmart started installing these lanes in 1998. Ashley Hardie, Walmart spokeswoman said, 42 percent of the company’s 3,805 stores have self-serve lanes.

Placement of self-checkout lanes is determined by customer feedback and needs, and space allocation within the stores, she said.

While the self-servicetrend is growing, Buzek said it’s not the approach for all retailers.

A store needs to make at least $300,000 a week to justify the equipment costs,

“A lot of stores just don’t sell that high of volume,” he said.

Kim Eskew, president and chief operating officer of Springdale-based Harps Food Stores, said he doesn’t see much return on investment for such lanes at Harps stores.

“We’ve looked at it several times, and at this point we just decided not to do it,” he said.

Customer interaction is important for Harps.

“One advantage we feel we have is that personal connection with the consumer, and you lose that with self-checkout,” Eskew said.

Buzek said customer service concerns have kept Target from implementing self-checkout. A former CEO was staunchly against it, but now that he is gone Buzek said things could change.

“We are currently testing the self-checkout concept, but have no plans to roll it out at this time,” said Target spokeswoman Sarah Van Nevel.

Kmart does not offer it now, but was an early adopter of the process. The retailer implemented it in many stores in 2001, but removed the machines in 2003 as it went through bankruptcy.

The direction could change again. Kmart Holding Corp. acquired Sears, Roebuck and Co. in 2005.

“Kmart is always looking for ways to improve our customer experience and is considering several exciting new alternatives for selfcheckout. However at this time too early to get intospecifics,” said Kimberly Freely, Kmart spokeswoman.

Pros, Cons

Mader said the biggest advantage of self-checkout for retailers is the ability to redistribute payroll costs. Many people interpret this as meaning reduce employees, but that is usually not the case, he said.

“So many companies have already cut employment so far, I believe they are using self-checkout as a chance to increase the number of people on the floor or in the back offces to increase customer service,” he said.

Fear of increased shoplifting and fraud are often barriers for retailers, but Mader said studies show it is actually a deterrent. Consumers know they are constantly being monitored at self-scanning stations.

Speed of checkout is why many customers opt for the self-service method, even though it may take longer. Buzek said just the perception of time savings is enough motivation for some shoppers.

On the downside, consumers don’t like it when selfcheckout system does not work correctly and requires employee assistance.

“Shoppers don’t like the machine when it barks at them telling them they did something wrong,” Buzek said.

Sam’s shopper Carter ran into problems trying to pay for his purchases, but after a quick visit from an associate he had paid and was headed out the door.

He said the system was better than others he has used before.

“I’ll definitely use it again.”

Business, Pages 9 on 04/03/2011