“We’re always looking for new ways to help our customers save time, and these innovations are just the latest examples of how we continue to invest in our stores and bring greater convenience to customers,” shared Ray Korsch, a Walmart market manager, in an encouraging statement.
Switching out cashiers for new technology didn’t go as smoothly as Walmart had hoped. Instead of speeding things up, it seemed to cause more frustration among shoppers. Unfortunately, this move added to Walmart’s struggles with customer service.
Historically, Walmart’s customer satisfaction scores haven’t been very high. In fact, they dipped even further according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). Measuring how well major retail stores satisfy their customers, Walmart found its score falling from 72 to 71 from 2016 to 2017. This positions them low, just trailing behind Sears.
Randy Parraz, director at Making Change at Walmart (MCAW), voiced his opinion, “It took Walmart almost a year to learn what customers already knew: getting rid of cashiers and expecting customers to take on their roles isn’t appealing, especially when it doesn’t lead to a more convenient shopping experience.”
After recognizing these issues, Walmart decided it was time to reintroduce cashiers. This change might help boost their customer satisfaction ratings over time.
Checkout lanes have certainly evolved. Yet, it’s worth pondering if technology keeps overstepping, could we lose valuable human interaction in the shopping experience?
For deeper insights on why Walmart is reconsidering this technology, watch the video below!
What are your thoughts on having machines instead of cashiers? Did you experience shopping at Walmart during this technological phase? How do you feel about their return to using cashiers? Overall, what do you think of Walmart’s customer satisfaction approach?