iStock.com/Igor Alecsander
Marks & Spencer is installing self-service checkouts in changing rooms, allowing fashion shoppers to skip the regular checkout line when trying on clothes. So far, 28 recently refurbished stores already feature the technology.
“We'd like customers to be able to walk straight into the fitting room with no queue, try on what they've chosen, then pay there and just walk out,” the British chain’s operations director, Sacha Berendji, told The Telegraph.
To address shoplifting concerns, staff will be “hosting” changing room areas to make sure customers do not leave without paying. The initial plan is to add one of the checkouts per changing room area, with the number to increase depending on customer demand.
Traditional payment options will remain available. Berendji said, "This is all about choice. If you want to be served by a colleague, that's absolutely OK and you always can be. But if people want to serve themselves, they can do that instead."
Smart or tech-infused dressing rooms received significant hype about a decade ago. In 2014, Nordstrom began testing interactive "smart mirrors" in fitting rooms that provide shoppers with access to in-store inventory information, product recommendations, and other data typical of web shopping. Around the time, however, only Zara experimented with the technology for self-checkout.
Online virtual dressing rooms have received more attention in recent years, but experimentation in physical spaces has continued. In 2022, H&M rolled out fitting rooms in some U.S. stores equipped with smart mirrors that recognize products brought into the room (e.g. item, size, and color) with the possibility to offer personalized product and styling recommendations.
A bigger question may be whether self-checkout is an acceptable option at apparel stores. Primark, Zara, and Uniqlo are among the few that started installing self-checkout in 2022.
Under the setup from Zara and Uniqlo, shoppers dump the RFID-tagged items they want to purchase in a box that scans it all at once, avoiding the chore of using the bar-code scanner typical at grocery stores. RFID purchase verification can help reduce shoplifting by catching items that might be intentionally or accidentally missed during checkout when using bar code scanning alone. Uniqlo further said the self-checkout machines cut transaction times by half.
A recent Business of Fashion article exploring why self-checkout hasn’t become as prevalent in fashion compared to grocery channels highlighted the high cost of RFID tags as well as the need for high-touch, or human, attention supporting the fashion shopping experience.
“When you think of someone buying a $150 bag, it almost feels like self-checkout would cheapen the service,” Matt Moorut, marketing analyst at Gartner, told Business of Fashion. “Fashion has been one of the slowest areas to make changes in checkout.”