Category Archives: Self-Service

Stirlingretail.com : The 2023 Review

Posted on January 8, 2024 by Leigh Sparks

It’s that time of year again. The blog is another year older, but certainly not any wiser. At this point I normally reflect on the visitor activity on the blog during the year – and this year is going to … Continue reading →

Posted in Branding, Bristol Pound, Cinemas, Cooperatives, Eataly, Grocery retailing, High Streets, Internet shopping, Market Shares, New Future for Scotland's Towns, Online Retailing, Places, Retailers, Retailing, Royal society of Edinburgh, Scotland's National Academy, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scottish Retailing, Self-Service, Town Centre Action Plan, Town Centres, Towns | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Is it the End for Self-Checkouts?

Posted on December 4, 2023 by Leigh Sparks

A few weeks ago, an announcement by Booths (the north west of England supermarket chain) sparked a lot of media interest and column inches. They had decided to remove self-checkouts from all bar two of their stores. Was this the … Continue reading →

Posted in Academics, Booths, Checkouts, Consumers, Customer engagement, Customer Service, Employees, Marks and Spencer, Retailers, Retailing, Self-checkout, Self-Scanning, Self-Service, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

“Shopping without Stopping”: When did self-service retailing start in the British Isles?

Posted on June 13, 2023 by Leigh Sparks

The answer to the question posed in the title of this post has been the subject of quite a lot of discussion over many years. Most of the debate have centred on the operations of Cooperative stores, mainly in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Advertising, Amazon Go, Cafeterias, Consumers, Cooperatives, Food Retailing, Government, Historic Shops, History, Retail Change, Retail History, Retailing, Self-Service, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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 , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 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 , , , , , , | 1 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