It could be the added convenience, faster transactions or reliability, but consumers in North America are beginning to use self-checkout terminals to complete purchases. This technology is not necessarily a new form of retail point-of-sale software. However, retailers may need to adopt these solutions to accommodate customers.

According to Retailing Today, a recent study by IHL Group found that self-checkout shipments have seen an 8 percent increase year-over-year. This represents a total of $255 billion in transactions annually. The research also revealed that consumers are using self-service terminals 7 percent more each year, and experts anticipate the total amount of transactions to surpass $1 trillion by 2014, reports the source.

Smartphones and tablets are also proving to be new forms of retail technology. Consumers are increasingly using these devices to research information about retailers and even complete purchases, states Internet Retailer. A study by Nielsen found that nearly three-quarters of smartphone users look up and then call retailers from their devices. Eighty-four percent research physical locations as well as directions. This highlights the growing trend of mobile devices being used for shopping purposes.

This entry was posted by Retail Pro on Thursday, August 30th, 2012 at 9:41 am .