The recent news about Booths, the high-end supermarket – based in the North of England – that they have put staff back on the tills, cancelling self-service checkouts from all but two of its 27 supermarkets has been refreshing.
Nigel Murray, Booth’s MD, rightly pointed out, “We pride ourselves on great customer service, and you can’t do that through a robot.”
I agree.
This strategic shift not only counters the prevailing trend but challenges the industry mindset that Tesco and others are turning to more self-service checkouts (despite Pat McCarthy’s petitions with 250,000 signatures to stop replacing people with machines.)
Booths’ are committed to service quality over convenience. It’s a bold stance, and as Murray said, – “If the competition is driving prices down, we will drive quality,”
On my recent trip to Lisbon, while in the Longchamp El Corte Inglês Lisboa shopping mall, there were cashiers at the till, which felt like a throwback to a bygone era. I didn’t realise how much I missed it.
Delivering an excellent customer experience is about not dismissing the importance of technology but finding a way in which personal relationships and technology can work together.
We live in a time where self-service reigns, and Booth’s decision to acknowledge the importance of human relationships shows some clever strategic thinking.
Technology should complement, not replace, human interaction, and the pace of change we are experiencing puts that at risk. I believe that dedication to genuine human connection transcends transactions.
The question is: will others follow suit?
