Why Checkout Speed is Grocery's Biggest Growth Opportunity

Online grocery sales are projected to grow approximately 5% in North America during 2025, significantly outpacing the overall grocery sector's 1% expected growth.

This rapid expansion of online shopping has intensified competition, prompting grocery retailers to prioritize improvements to the in-store shopping experience, especially checkout speed and convenience.

The Checkout Experience: A Critical Differentiator

For today's shoppers, checkout speed is no longer just a convenience; it's an essential expectation. A fast, hassle-free checkout process has become table stakes for customer retention. Grocers are responding with significant investments in technology—from self-checkout stations to mobile payment apps and AI-powered solutions—to streamline in-store operations and reduce wait times.

The High Cost of Long Queues

Long checkout lines have consistently ranked among shoppers' top frustrations, sometimes even surpassing dissatisfaction with product prices. Surveys illustrate the stark impact of queues on consumer behavior:

• Nearly 40% of shoppers aren't loyal to a single grocery store, readily switching to competitors offering faster checkout. (Source)
• A Forrester study found 85% of grocery consumers consider checkout speed "important," with half calling it "very important." (Source)
• Over 61% of U.S. consumers have left stores due to long lines, and up to 80% admit doing so at least once annually. (Source)
• About 80% of customers occasionally avoid stores entirely if they anticipate long waits. (Source)

These statistics highlight a clear and direct impact on customer satisfaction, loyalty, and ultimately, sales.

Lost Revenue and Reduced Customer Loyalty

The direct revenue losses due to long checkout lines are significant. One estimate places this cost at $38 billion annually for U.S. retailers. When customers abandon their carts or skip stores altogether, grocers lose immediate sales and potentially long-term customer relationships. Additionally, prolonged wait times reduce basket sizes, as hurried shoppers forgo impulse buys or remove items to use express lanes. Research has shown 18% of shoppers would switch their primary grocery store due to poor checkout experiences.

Causes of Queue Issues

Common causes of queue bottlenecks include:

• Inadequate labor scheduling, especially during peak shopping hours.
• Slow or inefficient checkout processes.
• Interruptions such as price checks or payment issues.

Americans now spend more time waiting in retail checkout lines than in any other service, underscoring the urgency for retailers to address these pain points.

Shorter Lines, Better Performance

Reducing queue lengths doesn't just mitigate losses—it actively boosts performance. Kroger, for example, achieved notable improvements by cutting average checkout times to under a minute, increasing customer satisfaction and likely raising average spend per visit. Shorter checkout times also enhance throughput, enabling stores to serve more customers efficiently, thus directly impacting revenue positively.

The Bottom Line

For grocery retailers, managing checkout queues effectively is not merely a convenience issue—it's a strategic imperative. With fierce competition from online grocery services, retailers must prioritize rapid checkout solutions to attract and retain customers. Investing in technologies and process improvements to shorten checkout lines translates directly into higher sales, enhanced customer loyalty, and sustained business growth.

Queue Management Innovation

Grocery retailers are adopting a range of queue management technologies to speed up checkout and eliminate bottlenecks. These innovations span from self-service checkouts and mobile solutions to advanced AI-driven systems. To illustrate how queue-reducing innovations are practically implemented in the grocery industry, here are three examples demonstrating different cutting-edge approaches:

Mobile App – Sam’s Club (Walmart) Scan & Go: Sam’s Club has successfully deployed a mobile app-based self-checkout system called Scan & Go. Customers scan items with their smartphones as they shop, and payment is completed directly within the app, eliminating the need to wait in line. By 2024, approximately one-third of Sam’s Club members were regularly using Scan & Go. This mobile solution significantly reduces checkout times and enhances the shopping experience, resulting in increased customer loyalty and satisfaction.

ExpressLane – Leverege's AI-Powered Queue Solution: Leverege's ExpressLane leverages advanced AI and computer vision to optimize queue management in grocery stores. The system monitors customer flow in real-time, dynamically predicting checkout demands and automatically adjusting staffing or suggesting queue adjustments to store employees. Early deployments have demonstrated significant reductions in wait times and queue length, resulting in improved customer satisfaction, increased throughput, and higher overall sales.

AI Shopping Cart – Sobeys Smart Cart: Canadian grocery retailer Sobeys piloted an AI-powered smart cart developed with Caper. The smart cart automatically scans and weighs items as shoppers place them inside, displaying a running total on an integrated screen. Payment is processed directly through the cart, allowing customers to exit the store without waiting in a checkout line. Early results show significant promise, with Sobeys noting increased customer convenience and potential basket-size growth of up to 18% due to real-time promotions and recommendations provided by the cart interface.

Conclusion

Ultimately, the future of grocery retail hinges on mastering the checkout experience. As online grocery sales continue to rise, brick-and-mortar stores must differentiate by making checkout seamless, fast, and friction-free. Embracing innovative queue-management technologies not only reduces immediate revenue losses but also fosters deeper customer loyalty, driving long-term growth. Retailers who prioritize rapid, convenient checkout solutions today will be best positioned to attract, retain, and delight customers well beyond 2025.

Interested in seeing how AI-powered queue management can transform your store's checkout experience? Learn more about ExpressLane by Leverege today.

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