Category Archives: Self-Service

Strange Things in Self-Service

Posted on February 8, 2023 by Leigh Sparks

My twitter timeline has been populated recently by photos of retailers doing, for me, some strange things with self-service tills.  These tills have popped up everywhere over the last decade and not always to universal acclaim.  B&Q and WH Smith … Continue reading →

Posted in Amazon Fresh, Amazon Go, Clothing, Consumers, Customer Service, Employment practices, Experiential, Functional Retailing, Marks and Spencer, Retail Change, Sainsbury, Self-checkout, Self-Scanning, Self-Service, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Going Self-Service – a 70 year old revolution?

Posted on September 30, 2019 by Leigh Sparks

A few weeks ago a journalist rang and asked about the introduction of self-service retailing into the UK.  A particular question was about the way in which retailers converting to self-service in the 1940s and 1950s knew what to do … Continue reading →

Posted in Consumer Change, Customer Service, Express Dairies, Food Retailing, Historic Shops, History, Retail Change, Retail History, Retail innovation, Retailers, Retailing, Self-checkout, Self-Service, Small Shops, Tesco, Uncategorized, USA | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Easy, it Ain’t

Posted on September 7, 2015 by Leigh Sparks

What with the announcement by a number of retailers that they are re-considering the tone of voice and announcements made by their self service checkouts and others who are removing such non-human (inhuman?) equipment, it has not been a good … Continue reading →

Posted in Automation, Communications, Customer Service, Easyjet, Personal, Retail Failure, Self-Scanning, Self-Service, Service Quality, Twitter | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment