4 Reasons to Invest in Retail Self-Scanning

| Retail

qr code on a smartphone

Self-scanning has revolutionized the way customers interact with brick-and-mortar stores. This innovative retail technology enables shoppers to scan their own purchases, eliminating long checkout lines and creating more flexible shopping experiences on the whole. And now that most customers bring their favorite smart devices along on shopping trips, retailers can leverage mobile self-scanning apps to make self-checkout even faster, easier and more profitable.

Self-checkout solutions provide opportunities to increase efficiency and compete with burgeoning e-commerce brands—which is why some of the world’s top retailers partner with Scandit. Our mobile data capture and barcode scanning technology transforms standard smart devices into robust self-checkout tools, providing the same enterprise-grade performance as traditional scanning hardware at a fraction of the cost. Today, we’ll be discussing some of the key benefits of retail self-scanning technology to help you decide whether it’s a worthwhile investment for your business.

1. Mobile Self-Scanning Drives Retail Efficiency

Great shopping experiences always boil down to efficiency: customers should be able to find and purchase the items they want with a minimum investment of time and effort. That’s partially why e-commerce has made such impressive strides in recent years. With online stores, shoppers can sort through thousands of items and brands to find the right items—without wasting time, fuel or effort. To compete with that level of efficiency, brick-and-mortar stores need to make their shopping experiences as quick and effortless as possible. And that’s where mobile self-checkout apps can help.

Mobile self-scanning solutions also bolster efficiency because of how economical they are compared to standard self-scanning hardware. Many retailers are shifting their focus away from self-checkout lanes in favor of mobile apps to eliminate the need for special (and expensive) hardware. In short, smart devices cost significantly less to maintain and replace than traditional self-checkout kiosks without compromising on performance—generating greater returns for your enterprise.

2. Mobile Self-Scanning Offers Greater Flexibility

As consumer shopping behaviors change, brick-and-mortar stores must respond in kind. That means creating more versatile retail experiences that can accommodate a range of shopping styles. By investing in a mobile self-scanning solution, you give shoppers even more control over how they engage with your brand. A mobile self-checkout app provides more flexibility and freedom for customers, empowering them to purchase products however they wish. This approach makes your brand more accessible for different types of shoppers and provides key insight into how customers prefer to interact with you.

Mobile self-scanning offers your enterprise greater sales flexibility, too. By reducing reliance on checkout kiosks, mobile self-scanning provides additional floor space for your brick-and-mortar stores. This enables your team to increase sales volume and gross profitability by creating additional sales opportunities.

3. Mobile Self-Scanning Drives Consistency

According to StrongPoint, 30-50% of all store losses are caused by theft or human error. No matter how experienced and dependable in-store staff are, there’s always potential for mistakes when people are handling money. But with a mobile self-checkout app, you won’t have to worry about stolen cash, fraud or mishandled transactions. Mobile self-scanning allows you to reduce human error and cut down on labor costs, saving you time, money and stress.

Mobile self-checkout drastically reduces the impact of training needs and other human factors, bringing greater speed and consistency to your enterprise operations. Automation of customer checkouts also enables you to redeploy kiosk staff into roles that offer more value for your enterprise. For example, you might reallocate staff from cash handling to stocking shelves or clienteling. The result? More consistent and cost-effective retail workflows that drive results.

4. Mobile Self-Scanning Increases Purchase Sizes

Did you know that mobile self-checkout apps can be used to track and record customer purchasing behaviors? This feature enables your team to gain deep insights into what products specific shoppers are interested in and offer more personalized offers to incentivize purchases. For example, several brick-and-mortar retailers send personalized coupons to app users to encourage sales.

The impact of personalized offers can’t be underestimated. Earlier in 2018, Kelton Global performed a study of US internet users and their perception of individualized promotions. The survey revealed that 94% of respondents would take advantage of an offer that wasn’t available to the general public. Moreover, 38% of respondents claimed they would “treat themselves to something they wanted but didn’t really need.” Sending that personalized offer while a consumer shops on their smart device can make all the difference when trying to close a sale and maximize order size.

Scandit Solutions for Retail Self-Scanning

Now that you have a better understanding of mobile self-checkout solutions and the value they can bring to your business, let’s walk through Scandit’s innovative retail technology for mobile self-scanning:

Self-checkout apps powered by our Barcode Scanner SDK can capture product barcodes at any angle and a wide range of distances, even when those codes are damaged, blurry or poorly lit. These self-scanning solutions enable customers to process items quickly with their own smart devices without any training, fostering seamless shopping experiences that drive loyalty and repeat purchases.

We also offer SDK for the Web, which delivers all of our scanning tech to your web application or website without the need for a mobile app. You can even integrate our data capture and barcode scanning technology into your e-commerce platform (like Salesforce Commerce Cloud) by hosting the SDK for the Web on your web server.

Leverage Mobile Self-Scanning With Scandit

Want to learn more about mobile self-scanning and how it can position your retail enterprise for success? Then be sure to contact Scandit today. Also, feel free to reach out for more information on our mobile barcode scanning technology—and how these solutions can help you drive engagement and connection with customers. We’d love to help.