Ethnographic Study: Managing Self-Service Checkouts in Four Major Supermarkets in UK - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages Therefore, the only way to capture a bigger market share is to offer the lowest possible price to its target consumers.
Due to tight market competition, price-war among these four major grocery retailers has become the name of the game (BBC News 2012). To cut down on unnecessary fixed administrative costs, a lot of multinational companies had been investing on self-service technologies (Meuter, Ostrom and Roundtree et al. 2000). In UK, grocery retailers such as in the case of Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s, and Morrisons invested a large sum of money on its “self-checkouts” technology (Best 2011).
According to Best (2011), implementing the use of self-checkouts in large-scale grocery store outlets can save a lot of money on the part of Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s, and Morrisons. Most of the existing literature with regards to self-checkouts in grocery stores is focused on determining ways on how the general public would willingly accept the use of self-service technology (Curran, Meuter and Suprenant 2003; Dabholkar and Bagozzi 2002). Very few studies have focused on determining the disadvantages of self-checkouts in grocery stores (Mendat and Mayhorn 2007). Since customer’s loyalty is crucial to the success of large-scale grocery retailers, this study will purposely examine the customers’ point-of-views and personal experiences with regards to the use of self-checkout counters in large-scale grocery store outlets....
To cut down on unnecessary fixed administrative costs, a lot of multinational companies had been investing on self-service technologies (Meuter, Ostrom and Roundtree et al. 2000). In UK, grocery retailers such as in the case of Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s, and Morrisons invested a large sum of money on its “self-checkouts” technology (Best 2011). According to Best (2011), implementing the use of self-checkouts in large-scale grocery store outlets can save a lot of money on the part of Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s, and Morrisons. Most of the existing literature with regards to self-checkouts in grocery stores is focused on determining ways on how the general public would willingly accept the use of self-service technology (Curran, Meuter and Suprenant 2003; Dabholkar and Bagozzi 2002). Very few studies have focused on determining the disadvantages of self-checkouts in grocery stores (Mendat and Mayhorn 2007). Since customer’s loyalty is crucial to the success of large-scale grocery retailers, this study will purposely examine the customers’ point-of-views and personal experiences with regards to the use of self-checkout counters in large-scale grocery store outlets. Anand (2011) reported that each unit of self-checkout system would cost between $17,000 to $20,000. Considering the high cost of investing on self-checkout system, it is necessary to consider the customers’ personal experiences with regards to the use of this particular cost-cutting strategy. To give the readers a better idea of this subject matter, the concept and barriers behind the use of self-checkout counters will first be provided followed by discussing its advantages and disadvantages. Aside from the use of pure observational research method, a ...Download file to see next pagesRead More