Some retailers worry that adopting a self-checkout solution will deprive them of a key point of contact with their customers. Fairway Market, a New York City metro area chain of 15 supermarkets and four wine and spirit stores, wanted to be absolutely sure that wouldn’t happen when it deployed a self-checkout app, because the retailer prides itself on a family atmosphere and a close relationship with shoppers. The retailer is in the process of rolling out its first self-checkout app and will be seeking results that include:

Brick-and-mortar retailers once feared that mobile would eat into store sales, either via “showrooming” or simply by siphoning off shoppers. But now, omnichannel retailers are discovering that they can leverage mobile to bring what had previously been online-only tools into the physical store. These tools allow retailers to deliver targeted promotions and personalization when it matters most: the moment of purchase intent. Nearly half (47%) of retail executives say their mobile strategy is to increase shopping basket size both in-store and online by catching customers at the point of intent, according to the 2018 Retail Mobility Insights report by Oracle. “If you think about the experience that consumers are looking to have, the reality is most of them are shopping with a smartphone,” said Jeff Warren, VP of Solutions and Strategy at Oracle Retail. “A number of different retailers are seeing that they have to provide a more compelling experience in-store. There’s an opportunity to blend physical and digital, and they can use the advantage that the consumer is actually carrying around a computer with them as a way to engage.”