Kroger launches model for stores that will use only self-checkouts

Kroger Co. announced the launch of their latest business innovation, stores that use only self-checkouts.

"Kroger is always looking for new ways to reinvent the checkout experience for its customers," said April Martin a spokeswoman for Kroger to the Cincinnati Business Courier.

The nation’s largest operator of traditional supermarkets chose a store in Dallas, TX to test out the pilot model for their latest innovation. For more than a year, Kroger stores in Dallas have been testing out some of the innovations newest features which include wider self-checkouts with conveyor belts.

Kroger Co. creating stores which use only self-checkouts doesn’t mean there will be no in-store employees.

"Kroger will still have cashiers and courtesy clerks available to assist customers at the test store," Martin said.

According to the Cincinnati Business Courier, Kroger will install new self-checkout lanes with conveyor belts at the store to handle larger purchase orders. The store will keep its existing self-checkout stations.

Kroger is not the first corporation to implement stores that only use self-checkouts.

In February of 2020, Seattle-based Amazon launched its first full-size cashier-less grocery store in the Capitol Hill neighborhood. The Amazon-Go store allows shoppers to walk in, scan a QR code from their Amazon mobile, carry or add whatever they want to their baskets throughout the store, and then walk out when they are finished.

Kroger owned grocery stores made headlines the last few weeks as the company announced two of their California stores were permanently closing due to city governments requiring grocery stores to give their employees 'hazard pay' because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Advocates of the autonomy have pointed out that grocery stores notoriously already operate in 'the red' or on minimal profit margins and requiring grocery stores to increase employees’ wages when they can’t afford to will only lead to more permanent store closures.

Grocery store associations throughout the US have filed lawsuits against cities that are mandating "hazard pay." Pacific Northwest Grocery store trade groups filed lawsuits against the city of Seattle last Wednesday for the city council’s new requirement that stores increase 'hazard pay,' alleging in the lawsuit that the city is attempting to override federal laws on collective bargaining between unions and management.

It’s unclear if Kroger chose to roll out their new self-checkout model to keep costs down and help with balancing revenue or as an evolution to their business model.