Twenty years ago, there was a notable front-end checkout study called 'Front End Focus' published by M&M/Mars, Time Distribution Services, and Dechert-Hampe & Co.
The Front End Focus study concluded supermarket front-end productivity saw $4.3 billion in checkout lane sales at supermarkets nationwide, generating 1.1% in store sales, and 1.5% in store profits.
At the time, top-selling checkout categories were confection, magazines, beverages, and general merchandise.
Present day 2023, self-checkout development is all the rage in retail, but missing in many stores is actual merchandise to sell at the end of the shopping experience, which is increasingly self-checkout lanes, and these lanes can represent up to 55% of more of daily transactions in a busy retail store.
That's billions in lost sales.