



Self checkout (SCO) shipments could exceed 300,000 units by 2027.
In a sign of rising demand for self-checkout technology, self-checkout terminal vendors made 200,000 shipments internationally in 2021, but that number is expected to exceed 300,000 by 2027, according to RBR's Global EPOS and Self-Checkout 2022 report.
The global self-checkout market grew by 11% in 2021. Terminals that accept cash dropped from nearly 47% of total deliveries in 2020 to about 39% of total deliveries in 2021, according to the report.
Conversely, the number of cashless Self-Checkout terminals shipped increased from just over half to 61% between 2020 and 2021.
RBR, a London-based research and consultancy company founded in 1992, has identified several catalysts for the growth of self-checkout. Retailers in the Asia-Pacific region, mainly Australia, China, Malaysia and Indonesia, are driving growth by deploying this technology. In addition, rising minimum wages and labor shortages in Canada, South Korea, Poland and other countries could further increase demand for automatic checkouts.
According to RBR's findings, high-volume and specialty retailers are increasingly deploying cashless kiosks and redesigning their checkout areas to accommodate more self-checkout units.
In the USA, retailers are also embracing self-checkout technology. Amazon has extended its checkout technology to its own sites, including its Fresh grocery stores, and has also sold the technology to other retailers. Convenience store Hudson opened its first store using the technology at Dallas' Love Field airport last year. Last month, Dollar General began testing self-checkout in around 200 of its 18,000 stores.
Although retailers are increasingly adopting self-checkout technologies, research suggests that there is room for improvement. Six out of ten people surveyed by Raydiant in 2021 said they preferred self-checkouts to store staff, but 67% said a self-checkout had malfunctioned when in use, and 65% were concerned about its cleanliness.
SCO technology is progressing in other respects. We can already see that some self-checkout terminals recognize items so consumers don't have to scan them. Other technologies, such as facial recognition for payment validation, are also under development.
Self-checkout suppliers are also developing technologies to accurately detect items and verify customer age when purchasing age-restricted items.
Traditional self-checkout technology is not sufficient when customers want to purchase age-restricted items such as alcohol or prescription tobacco. These items generally require the intervention of an employee to verify the customer's identity and validate the purchase, creating bottlenecks that can slow queues, frustrate harried customers and reduce the labor-saving benefits of automation.




Self checkout (SCO) shipments could exceed 300,000 units by 2027.
In a sign of rising demand for self-checkout technology, self-checkout terminal vendors made 200,000 shipments internationally in 2021, but that number is expected to exceed 300,000 by 2027, according to RBR's Global EPOS and Self-Checkout 2022 report.
The global self-checkout market grew by 11% in 2021. Terminals that accept cash dropped from nearly 47% of total deliveries in 2020 to about 39% of total deliveries in 2021, according to the report.
Conversely, the number of cashless Self-Checkout terminals shipped increased from just over half to 61% between 2020 and 2021.
RBR, a London-based research and consultancy company founded in 1992, has identified several catalysts for the growth of self-checkout. Retailers in the Asia-Pacific region, mainly Australia, China, Malaysia and Indonesia, are driving growth by deploying this technology. In addition, rising minimum wages and labor shortages in Canada, South Korea, Poland and other countries could further increase demand for automatic checkouts.
According to RBR's findings, high-volume and specialty retailers are increasingly deploying cashless kiosks and redesigning their checkout areas to accommodate more self-checkout units.
In the USA, retailers are also embracing self-checkout technology. Amazon has extended its checkout technology to its own sites, including its Fresh grocery stores, and has also sold the technology to other retailers. Convenience store Hudson opened its first store using the technology at Dallas' Love Field airport last year. Last month, Dollar General began testing self-checkout in around 200 of its 18,000 stores.
Although retailers are increasingly adopting self-checkout technologies, research suggests that there is room for improvement. Six out of ten people surveyed by Raydiant in 2021 said they preferred self-checkouts to store staff, but 67% said a self-checkout had malfunctioned when in use, and 65% were concerned about its cleanliness.
SCO technology is progressing in other respects. We can already see that some self-checkout terminals recognize items so consumers don't have to scan them. Other technologies, such as facial recognition for payment validation, are also under development.
Self-checkout suppliers are also developing technologies to accurately detect items and verify customer age when purchasing age-restricted items.
Traditional self-checkout technology is not sufficient when customers want to purchase age-restricted items such as alcohol or prescription tobacco. These items generally require the intervention of an employee to verify the customer's identity and validate the purchase, creating bottlenecks that can slow queues, frustrate harried customers and reduce the labor-saving benefits of automation.