Ingles, the grocery store, has several self-checkout stations, each made up of three clearly-partitioned sections. Customers must interact with a touchscreen, which provides a welcoming message and concise instructions for each step in the checkout process. Never is any question unanticipated, nor need unanswered, and yet human interaction has been minimized. Ingles management has ensured that the customer experience at the self-checkout station goes as smoothly as possible. Any hiccup would simply be bad for business, while a perfect experience guarantees return customers and simultaneously allows for fewer employees and thus fewer risks. The well-designed self-checkout counter is a business asset for grocers.
The entire configuration moves left to right, to match cultural intuition. From infancy onward, people who are likely to be Ingles customers - Americans, that is - have learned that information is obtained, no, available from left to right. Ingles management might not have even planned to set up the counter left to right. It’s possible that the design simply made sense for a reason inexplicable, but the reason is clear. In this case, unlike with reading, all the important parts are in the middle, but the event and experience still begins on the left side and ends on the right.
The counters are approximately waist high, making them easy to reach despite height variations. The left counter for setting down groceries is big enough to hold anything that might be carried in two hands. If a customer has more groceries than can sensibly be carried, she will probably be using a cart and will therefor not need the counter, so it only needs to be as big as it is. Once the counter is loaded or a customer is ready, there are two ways to get the computer system working. One method is pressing the friendly “Start” button, the other is scanning the first item. Either action will take the computer through its program, so confusion is avoided and customer missteps are forgiven. The bagging area, which follows the scanner, is easy to use without assistance. Customers have 8 bags available at a time, and they can use more if they need. The bagging section rotates so the customer never needs to leave the scanner and walk around. Anything that might be confusing is clearly marked, like the change dispensers and card reader.
The Ingles customer is guided through the self-checkout process by the touchscreen. The screen has been made as inviting as possible, without losing efficiency. On the left, the first thing the customer is likely to see is the Ingles logo, along with the words “advantage,” “savings,” and “rewards.” All these words evoke desirable ideas, and they have been placed in plain view of the customer. The next thing that the eyes land on is a single word, “Welcome,” which is set in the largest typeface of any text on-screen. The word is also higher on-screen than anything else, which gives it the air of a title. If anything, this first screen is to be thought of as the Welcome screen, designed to make the customer feel at home. Ingles also goes a step further by adding an exclamation point, as if to give the customer the impression that even the computers are happy to see him.
Greetings are nice, but they do not instruct. Fortunately, there is an over-abundance of instruction filling the rest of the screen. I would put money on the guess that no Ingles customer is unfamiliar with the idea of a button which, when pressed, performs the command which is written on it. Computer-literate people have seen the “OK” button, and we know that computers display buttons with text to indicate the buttons’ functions. There is a button on screen that says “Start,” and one that says the Spanish equivalent, but just in case, Ingles has included the words “Press ‘Start’ to begin,” between these buttons and the on-screen greeting. This screen would function equally well if left blank except for the word “Start,” or the phrase “Touch Screen to Start.” The screen could be designed so that any touch in any place would begin the program. Ingles’ designers have gone out of the way to make this screen as inviting and unambiguous as possible.
After the welcome screen, customers come to the item counting screen. After each item is scanned, it shows up as a line of text on the screen next to its price, much in the style of an accountant’s tables. Straightforward, unambiguous, and easy to understand. Once all items are scanned, the screen moves into pay mode, offering a button for each possible method of payment. The customer is directed toward the necessary station for inserting cash or swiping a card.
With every item scanned, the customer must tender payment. Some people still use cash for every transaction, and the instructions in that case are easy to understand. There is an acceptor for bills and an acceptor for coins, as well as change dispensers that output both forms of cash.
More often customers will use the card reader, which is very much like the touchscreen despite differences in appearance. The true difference is only that the card reader was invented first, and so has buttons instead of a touchscreen. Otherwise the two are mainly similar. The card reader gives its own instructions to manage customer behavior during the payment process. Once again the option to select a language and press ‘begin’ is presented, but the customer is again forgiven by the computer if she chooses to skip that and swipe her card of choice. After the card is swiped, the necessary requests are made of the customer - PIN, cash back option, choosing a receipt or no receipt. These are taken care of in sequence and buttons are indicated which will tell the computer “Yes,” or “No.” To avoid any holdups, customers are never asked to input their answers in a long form. For instance, one cannot withdraw $7.55 from ones checking account at the self-checkout counter. If a debit card is used, cash back is offered in amounts of $10, $20, $30, etc. In this way Ingles reduces time spent checking out by reducing the complexity of the decisions their customers have to make. In times of heavy store traffic, time spent at the self-checkout can mean the difference between a customer choosing to wait in line or leaving with plans to return. Once a person enters the store, Ingles wants to make the sale. If that person decides to come back later, they may choose a different store
Bagging is the final step to checking out, though it’s often done item by item during scanning. The bagging station is the only step in the process unaccompanied by instruction, which means Ingles is trusting its customers to handle this step alone. The rack holding the plastic bags is square in shape, and it offers the use of 8 bags at a time. Because the bagging rack rotates, customers never have to move from the scanner as they place each item in a bag and continue scanning. If more than 8 bags are required to hold everything, the customer can remove bags from their positions and place them in the center of the rack, which is open.
Most customers still use store bags instead of bringing their own, so rather than promote ecological awareness or encourage customers to use their own bags, Ingles simply makes it painless to use their plastic bags. The self-checkout is one place Ingles could use to promote reusable shopping bags, if they chose to promote them at all. Instead they choose not to interrupt the checkout process with messages that risk a negative reaction. Any negative reaction from customers means a potential loss of business.
The counters are approximately waist high, making them easy to reach despite height variations. The left counter for setting down groceries is big enough to hold anything that might be carried in two hands. If a customer has more groceries than can sensibly be carried, she will probably be using a cart and will therefor not need the counter, so it only needs to be as big as it is. Once the counter is loaded or a customer is ready, there are two ways to get the computer system working. One method is pressing the friendly “Start” button, the other is scanning the first item. Either action will take the computer through its program, so confusion is avoided and customer missteps are forgiven. The bagging area, which follows the scanner, is easy to use without assistance. Customers have 8 bags available at a time, and they can use more if they need. The bagging section rotates so the customer never needs to leave the scanner and walk around. Anything that might be confusing is clearly marked, like the change dispensers and card reader.
The Ingles customer is guided through the self-checkout process by the touchscreen. The screen has been made as inviting as possible, without losing efficiency. On the left, the first thing the customer is likely to see is the Ingles logo, along with the words “advantage,” “savings,” and “rewards.” All these words evoke desirable ideas, and they have been placed in plain view of the customer. The next thing that the eyes land on is a single word, “Welcome,” which is set in the largest typeface of any text on-screen. The word is also higher on-screen than anything else, which gives it the air of a title. If anything, this first screen is to be thought of as the Welcome screen, designed to make the customer feel at home. Ingles also goes a step further by adding an exclamation point, as if to give the customer the impression that even the computers are happy to see him.
Greetings are nice, but they do not instruct. Fortunately, there is an over-abundance of instruction filling the rest of the screen. I would put money on the guess that no Ingles customer is unfamiliar with the idea of a button which, when pressed, performs the command which is written on it. Computer-literate people have seen the “OK” button, and we know that computers display buttons with text to indicate the buttons’ functions. There is a button on screen that says “Start,” and one that says the Spanish equivalent, but just in case, Ingles has included the words “Press ‘Start’ to begin,” between these buttons and the on-screen greeting. This screen would function equally well if left blank except for the word “Start,” or the phrase “Touch Screen to Start.” The screen could be designed so that any touch in any place would begin the program. Ingles’ designers have gone out of the way to make this screen as inviting and unambiguous as possible.
After the welcome screen, customers come to the item counting screen. After each item is scanned, it shows up as a line of text on the screen next to its price, much in the style of an accountant’s tables. Straightforward, unambiguous, and easy to understand. Once all items are scanned, the screen moves into pay mode, offering a button for each possible method of payment. The customer is directed toward the necessary station for inserting cash or swiping a card.
With every item scanned, the customer must tender payment. Some people still use cash for every transaction, and the instructions in that case are easy to understand. There is an acceptor for bills and an acceptor for coins, as well as change dispensers that output both forms of cash.
More often customers will use the card reader, which is very much like the touchscreen despite differences in appearance. The true difference is only that the card reader was invented first, and so has buttons instead of a touchscreen. Otherwise the two are mainly similar. The card reader gives its own instructions to manage customer behavior during the payment process. Once again the option to select a language and press ‘begin’ is presented, but the customer is again forgiven by the computer if she chooses to skip that and swipe her card of choice. After the card is swiped, the necessary requests are made of the customer - PIN, cash back option, choosing a receipt or no receipt. These are taken care of in sequence and buttons are indicated which will tell the computer “Yes,” or “No.” To avoid any holdups, customers are never asked to input their answers in a long form. For instance, one cannot withdraw $7.55 from ones checking account at the self-checkout counter. If a debit card is used, cash back is offered in amounts of $10, $20, $30, etc. In this way Ingles reduces time spent checking out by reducing the complexity of the decisions their customers have to make. In times of heavy store traffic, time spent at the self-checkout can mean the difference between a customer choosing to wait in line or leaving with plans to return. Once a person enters the store, Ingles wants to make the sale. If that person decides to come back later, they may choose a different store
Most customers still use store bags instead of bringing their own, so rather than promote ecological awareness or encourage customers to use their own bags, Ingles simply makes it painless to use their plastic bags. The self-checkout is one place Ingles could use to promote reusable shopping bags, if they chose to promote them at all. Instead they choose not to interrupt the checkout process with messages that risk a negative reaction. Any negative reaction from customers means a potential loss of business.
It’s clear that the self-checkout station is designed to be used, but I think it goes further. Ingles benefits more from a customer checking himself out than from the same customer checking out with a clerk. More self-checkout stations means less money spent paying workers, less risk of human error that could cost the store its patrons, and less social awkwardness as customers avoid interacting with an unfamiliar face. I predict the expansion of the do-it-yourself section as more young people who begin shopping choose the self-checkout counter over human clerks, and grocers like Ingles continue to encourage them.
