Morrisons opts to revive staffed express checkouts

As part of its big operational shakeup, management of supermarket chain Morrisons have decided to bring back staffed express checkouts in stores this week.

The decision to scrap self-service machines and reintroduce over 1,000 staffed check out was made after a survey discovered 60% of British shoppers would prefer to have human interaction while paying for their shopping, the Telegraph reports.

The results, which were comprised from 2,588 shoppers, also revealed that 67% of shoppers will purposely avoid the self-service machines because they are concerned about holding up queues while waiting for staff to override machine warning.

David Potts, chief executive of Morrisons said: “We’re listening hard to our customers and responding quickly wherever possible. If customers from time to time do smaller shops they want to get in and out of our stores quickly.

“We are responding by introducing Express Checkouts which shoppers with ten items or less can use.

“These checkouts - and our very helpful colleagues - will offer a quick and personal service, helping to keep queues low and improving thousands of shopping trips.”

Two new staffed express checkouts will be added to each Morrisons store, which will now give customers three payment options. Standard checkouts will be for larger trolley shops, whereas self-checkouts and manned express checkouts will provide customers more choice for smaller shops.

This check-out adjustment comes just two weeks after Morrisons announced it is set to create 5,000 new in-store jobsin an attempt to revive Morrisons’ dipping sales by boosting customer service, while 720 head office roles will be axed to restructure the company’s management.

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