As the survey respondents reported, an important issue for female shoppers is getting in and out of the store in a short amount of time. Over 40% of respondents said that checkout time was their biggest concern when shopping. To remedy this issue, shoppers reported that they preferred expanding current technologies instead of trying new ones. For instance, blink fast technology (5.2%) and walk through RFID (9%) ranked lower than adding more self checkouts (17.4%). Not surprisingly, the most popular solution to checkout times for respondents (49.5%) was adding more open registers.
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| Female shopper using self-checkout. |
Researchers also studied how much shoppers were spending and how often. In 2011, 14% spent $136 or more per week on groceries. That figure keeps increasing-- from 21.4% in 2012 to 22.1% in 2013. Also, over 60% of shoppers only visit the grocery once (32.4%) or twice (31.2%) per week, while less than a quarter of shoppers visit the grocery store three (17.2%) or four (6.6%) times per week.
Combining this knowledge with that of my previous post, retailers should re-evaluate the image and experience their store portrays. Since spending less time at the store is so important to shoppers (as well as only wanting to visit once or twice per week), it's important for retailers to provide a streamlined approach to shopping while still addressing the top concerns of shoppers--top quality perishables, easy-to-read shelf tags, a clean and neat atmosphere, and a safe area surrounding the store.
As a food retailer, is checkout time a big concern for your customers? How often do customers visit per week? What are your customers' biggest concerns when shopping?
