When shops introduce self-service checkouts, the sale of crisps, fizzy drinks and sweets increases, as well as the sale of other types of unhealthy food, relative to other products such as milk.
PhD Candidate Andreas Olden
We buy more unhealthy foods in self-service shops
Sale of unhealthy foods rises between 10 and 15 per cent in shops that offer self-service checkouts. When nobody is watching, we buy more sweets, crisps, fizzy drinks.
‘We know that we use food to say something about ourselves. When we go to a restaurant with other people, we often order food to impress and because we want to be perceived a certain way,’ says Andreas Olden, research fellow at the Department of Business and Management Science at NHH.
The effect of self-service checkouts
This means that when we choose a fish dish from the menu instead of an unhealthier alternative, we are part of a phenomenon that has been documented by research.
‘The question is how extensive this is and if the same applies to grocery shopping. That’s what I've been trying to find out in one of the articles in my thesis. One of the underlying questions is how technology affects us in our day-to-day lives.’
In his study ‘What Do You Buy When No One’s Watching? The Effect of Self-Service Checkouts on the Composition of Sales in Retail’, Olden asks: What do you buy when no one can see you?
‘When shops introduce self-service checkouts, the sale of crisps, fizzy drinks and sweets increases, as well as the sale of other types of unhealthy food, relative to other products such as milk.
Many familiar faces
‘I think one important explanation is that we find it a bit embarrassing to buy all these unhealthy products, and that we therefore find it easier to buy crisps and fizzy drinks when we use a self-service checkout. In a traditional shop, you have to place the unhealthy items on the conveyor belt, and many people feel watched. The person behind the counter is a familiar face, which often makes you feel a bit uncomfortable.’
Olden believes the characteristic Norwegian shopping habits go some way to explain the changes.
‘Norwegians tend to go to the shop frequently, and we often use the same shop every time. We normally use shops near where we live, so there's a lot of repeated interaction with the shop staff and people in the neighbourhood. That means there are many familiar faces every time you go to the shop. You can have this feeling of being observed’
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Much more anonymous
'The self-service checkouts are much more efficient and there are seldom queues. Furthermore, no one can see your items. You just pick up your fizzy drink and crisps from the basket, scan them and put them in a bag on the other side. The shopping experience is much more anonymous. This is what we are documenting here.’
‘Does this mean that Norwegians eat more crisps and chocolate in total, or are we using the unmanned shops to buy things that are associated with social stigma?’
I think one important explanation is that we find it a bit embarrassing to buy all these unhealthy products, and that we therefore find it easier to buy crisps and fizzy drinks when we use a self-service checkout.
PhD Candidate Andreas Olden
‘Based on this study, I can't rule out that some customers switch to a shop that offers self-service to buy unhealthy foods, but that is not very likely. Rather, the explanation for the increase in the sale of sweets and fizzy drinks in shops without manned checkouts is that it’s easier and less embarrassing. What I have reason to assume is that the sale of unhealthy foods increases.’
Compared shops
‘How did you go about this study?’
‘I have data on the customers’ purchases before and after the shops introduced self-service checkouts. That allowed me to see how the shopping pattern in these shops changed and to compare it to the shopping pattern in shops that did not introduce self-service checkouts.’
These were fairly average shops, not among the smallest or biggest.
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‘The most important methodological point is that the shops in the study that introduced self-service checkouts were similar to those that did not introduce automatic payment.’
In order to rule out that the self-service effect affected all types of goods in the shops, even “neutral” products, Olden also looked at milk sales.
Commented on the food
‘There is no change to milk sales compared to shops that had not introduced self-service checkouts. But there was an increase in sale of crisps, fizzy drinks and chocolate. There is a relative change in the shopping pattern.’
‘Was this in line with your hypothesis?’
I once lived near a shop where one of the staff, who had worked there for a long time, liked to chat and often commented on what I had bought for dinner.
PhD Candidate Andreas Olden
‘I once lived near a shop where one of the staff, who had worked there for a long time, liked to chat and often commented on what I had bought for dinner. If you had already been there and bought frozen pizza, beer and crisps, and come back later to buy sweets, and this is commented on by the staff, you feel a bit awkward. That’s how I got the idea.’
We shouldn’t care
Olden's doctoral degree work is at the intersection between business economics at the Department of Business and Management Science, and behavioural economics at the Centre for Experimental Research on Fairness, Inequality and Rationality (FAIR) and the Department of Economics.
Reference
‘What Do You Buy When No One’s Watching? The Effect of Self-Service Checkouts on the Composition of Sales in Retail’ by Andreas Olden, Department of Business and Management Science, NHH. The article is a working paper at the department and is part of Olden's PhD thesis.
‘I’m interested in technology’s behavioural economic consequences and how the psychological mechanisms come into play. Our shopping and the fact that someone is watching us who we shouldn't care about, but that we still worry about.’
‘From a business economics perspective, you could say that shops should carefully consider these effects before introducing new technology. This applies to both price, procurement and strategic product placement,’ says Olden.