Booths supermarket moves back to personalised service: A-Level Business In The News

Have a go at this teaching activity, which includes a downloadable worksheet and suggested answers.

What's the story?

UK supermarket chain Booths has announced they will be removing self-service checkouts from 26 of their 28 stores, opting instead for staffed tills.

This decision comes after customer feedback indicating a preference for the personalised service and interactions provided by employees at checkout.

Many Booths shoppers found the self-service tills to be slow, unreliable, and impersonal. Loose items like fruit and vegetables often require staff verification, slowing the process down. Alcohol purchases also necessitate age checks by employees.

With a focus on customer service, Booths believes staffed checkouts create a better shopping experience through human connection. The move makes them one of the first UK grocers to move away from automated self-service checkout technology and return to checkouts manned by store staff.

By listening to customer input, Booths hopes to improve service through staffed tills that offer customers more personal and efficient interactions while shopping.

Read the full article here on the BBC Business website and then try the questions in the worksheet below.

Self-service: Booths supermarket puts staff back behind its tills