Hey retailers, here’s a terrifying experiment to see just how honest your customers are: a mobile-enabled self-checkout concept from Diebold. Placing an awful lot of trust in shoppers, the solution from Diebold would allow consumers to simply scan their items with a smartphone as they shop, basically checking out throughout the entirety of the experience. Once they’re completely finished and ready to pay up, they’ll just need to tap their phone at the self-checkout unit at the front of the store, eliminating the infuriating process of trying to figure out which way the barcode needs to go in order for those pesky standing scanners to work.
Customers would pay by way of preloaded card information in their digital wallet, or they could even choose to pay via cash when all is said and done. But regardless, this new checkout method would rid shoppers of lines and the endless frustration of trying to cancel that annoying “a representative has been notified to assist you” message. Best of all, Diebold says, such a checkout process has the potential to “increase consumer loyalty through the use of stored-value cards, mobile marketing campaigns, and membership rewards programs.”
It hasn’t been implemented anywhere yet, as the proposed Diebold app is currently naught more than an idea. But the company will showcase the concept in its entirety on Sunday at the New York NRF “BIG” Show.
“As a proven leader in delivering financial service solutions to top retailers, we see many similarities between the worlds of banking and retail. Our omni-channel expertise has enabled us to reimagine the use of our fast, secure ATM technology to power the new, mobile-enabled self-checkout,” said Frank Natoli, Diebold executive vice president, self-service technology. “A convergence of the ATM, self-checkout and mobile would not only deliver speed and convenience to consumers, but also standardizes all cash handling into a single automated experience.”
