More than half of all customers use self-checkouts
Frankfurt am Main, August 14, 2024: Whether you're doing your weekly shop at the supermarket, DIY store or shopping for clothes: More and more bricks-and-mortar retail outlets are offering self-service checkouts. In 2023, more than 5,000 stores already offered self-checkout, twice as many as in 2021.¹ What's behind the trend? A representative study conducted by infas quo on behalf of EURO Kartensysteme on the usage behavior of consumers shows that More than half (56 percent) of customers in this country use self-checkouts, with just under one in five (19 percent) even using them regularly.
girocard: Number one for self-checkout
People who need to quickly buy the last ingredients for dinner often don't want to queue behind people with a full shopping cart at the checkout. For small purchases of up to ten items in particular, around two thirds (68%) of all self-service checkout users scan their products themselves and pay for them at the terminal. This allows them to avoid long queues and set their own pace at the checkout - advantages that consumers particularly appreciate about self-checkout. Once all products have been scanned and put away, customers most frequently pull out their girocard2 at the more than 16,000 self-service terminals in Germany. At around 57%, the debit card issued by German banks and Sparkassen is also the number one choice for cashless payments.
Online age verification: Benefits for retail sector customers
However, as soon as age-restricted products such as alcohol or cigarettes end up in the shopping cart, age verification slows down the process: if a person wants to buy such goods, the specialist staff must come to the terminal and check their age to ensure the protection of minors. This slows down both staff and customers and causes almost one in three (31 percent) to avoid using self-service checkouts. To get around this hurdle, girocard is girocard an efficient and secure feature: online age verification. Consumers can easily prove their age with girocard – whether with the physical card, their smartphone, or their smartwatch. This process is practical, convenient, and very secure. The feature is promising for retailers: staff can be deployed elsewhere, giving them more time to interact with customers. After all, more than a third (37 percent) of them value personal contact when shopping.
Reliable, fast, convenient: age verification with girocard
girocard the only debit card in Germany that can be used to verify the age of shoppers during the payment process. Anyone who has one—whether in their wallet or digital wallet—is already technically prepared for online age verification. Users of self-checkout tills are convinced of the function's benefits: four out of five (79 percent) think it is good that girocard ensures girocard youth protection laws. Now it is up to retail sector financial institutions to introduce this future-proof method in brick-and-mortar retail. Last but not least, girocard is proving itself to be future-proof girocard online age verification. Age verification via girocard complements the trend toward digital wallets, which are everywhere—for impulse purchases, at events, or at snack vending machines.
¹ Self-checkout: Market survey 2023, EHI Retail Institute.
² Ibid.
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girocard press photo service release
girocard service release
About girocard:
The "girocard" brand stands for the overarching framework of the German banking industry: the girocard procedure as a debit card payment method and the "German ATM system." By using a personal identification number (PIN) the Germany Banking Industry Committee guarantees the secure and easy use girocard. The name and logo girocard were introduced by the German Banking Industry Committee in 2007.
About EURO Kartensysteme:
As a joint venture of the German banking industry, EURO Kartensysteme GmbH performs tasks in the common interest of German banks and Sparkassen the area of card-based payment services. As scheme manager, EURO Kartensysteme GmbH bundles core competencies in the girocard system. Its tasks include product management, sales, and scheme administration, as well as marketing and PR for girocard. The company's range of services also includes the development of operational security standards and methods for combating fraud, as well as Mastercard license management.
Contact:
EURO Kartensysteme GmbH
Lisa Werner / Jessica Henke
Communication and Marketing
Tel.: +49 (0)69 / 97945-4853
Fax: +49 (0)69 / 97945-4847
presse@eurokartensysteme.de
Public. Agentur für Kommunikation GmbH
Jasmin Hornung
Phone: +49 (0)621 963600-23
Fax: +49 (0)89 / 210257-19
j.hornung@agentur-publik.de
