Check It Out

Speeding up checkout lanes is a hot topic among today’s hottest retailers, according to the POS Benchmarking Survey: Exceeding Your Customers’ Expectations, which was conducted by Cleveland-based LakeWest Group. In its eighth annual study of the top U.S. retailers, LakeWest found that:

The top priority for retailers continues to be getting the customer through the checkout faster. This has been the top priority for nearly 10 years;

Nearly one-fifth of the retailers surveyed currently use a mobile sales device, such as a mobile POS or wireless hand-held, to improve customer flow-through at the checkout, with another 38% planning to implement some type of lane-busting strategy within two years;

Retailers are focusing on pricing to entice their customers to shop. More than two-thirds of the respondents offer promotions/coupons to their customers, generally based on dollars spent and product-type purchased;

There continues to be opportunity for retailers to tailor the shopping experience to the customer. Nearly one-third of the respondents are still not able to identify the customer at the register;

The majority of retailers polled are increasing their payroll-dollar spending across key customer touchpoints; and

When asked what their customers find valuable to their shopping experience, 75% of the retailers polled ranked customer service as the top driver. Product assortment, in-stock position, employee knowledge, efficient processing at the register, special-order availability, loyalty program, store location, targeted promotions and store layout, in that order, followed.

The complete findings and analysis of the survey are available atwww.lakewest.com.