Unsurprisingly, an airport convenience store turned out to be an ideal test case for grab-and-go frictionless checkouts.
DFW’s Fort Worth Magazine Travel Store saw 70% revenue growth and a 91% customer conversion rate in six months. Frictionless checkout fintech Zippin delivered a case study that showed dramatic engagement numbers at the airport vendor.
The report said that by embracing frictionless fintech and checkout solutions, the store is transforming the traveler and airport employee experience.
In a conversation with Krishna Motukuri, CEO, Co-Founder of Zippin, we discuss the changes and the frictionless fintech and checkout solutions.
“We have 86 stores worldwide that power stores for several retailers. We had over 1.4 million shoppers zip out with purchases in one of Zippin’s powered stores,” Motukuri said.
“It is a growing trend. What we see is the demand for this type of shopping, frictionless shopping, has increased tremendously.”
Do you want to wait in line or ‘Zippin’ by?
He said consumers increasingly seek to avoid lineups since the pandemic changed shopper expectations and preferences.
“Consumers are not willing to wait in line, so they skip shopping altogether. And retailers are leaving money on the table. You will see more and more of these stores popping up this year. And pretty much everywhere,” he said.
“We commissioned a study a few weeks ago and learned that the ‘post-pandemic hangover,’ as we’re calling it, where customers are, the expectations have gone up. On the other side, employment, the labor shortages have gone up, as it’s creating a $555 billion headwind for retailers,” Motukuri said.
American consumers wait in line for roughly up to 100,000 hours per year, according to Motukuri. They conducted a market study of 1,000 consumers of all ages.
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Here are some of the study findings:
- 92% of retailers admit that wait times during busy periods have hurt their company’s revenues.
- Meanwhile, 80% of shoppers said they have had to stand since the pandemic.
- 53% stated that in the last 12 months, they had left a store without buying anything because the lines were too long.
- Nearly 80% of retailers plan to implement either self-checkout (47%)
- Or checkout-free (32%) to win back consumers who poor in-store experiences have impacted.
Are retailers Zippin in?
Motukuri said retail technology had been proven to increase customer satisfaction, alleviate labor shortages and increase profits. Yet, retailers have slowly adopted the process and watched their revenues decline.
“Our research found that 100% of retailers have heard of checkout-free technology, with nearly three-quarters being very familiar with the concept. One-third say their company will introduce checkout-free to reduce in-store customer wait times,” Motukuri said.
“While this is great news, time is of the essence. Those who adopt frictionless retail now will reap the competitive advantages and have staying power in this tough economy.”
Retailers on four continents are using Zippin’s technology to power checkout-free experiences in their street-front retail stores, as well as stores, kiosks, and concession stands in a wide variety of venues such as stadiums, offices, airports, train stations, hotels, convention centers, and residential buildings.
Grab-and-go
Other companies have launched grab-and-go tech, including Amazon Go which hit the market in Seattle in 2018. They were the first advanced retail technology to go mainstream to help consumers avoid waiting in line.
Shoppers enter the store at Amazon Go locations using the Amazon shopping app. Once they’re in the store, they take the products they want off the shelf and go.
The receipt gets sent dynamically to the app after the purchase is completed.