Retail chains in the Czech Republic are currently not among the most popular companies. Previously, people had a much better relationship with them, but this was significantly disturbed after the shops abused the situation and started significantly increasing prices. In addition, it turns out that they sell low-quality goods in the country that no one would buy elsewhere in Europe.
A new style of shopping
Every now and then a chain tries to innovate in some way. Sometimes it is to the benefit of the cause, as for example when they introduced crates of fruit and vegetables that you can buy at a great discount. But other news are not so successful. An example is the one currently launched by the Lidl store chain, when it is quite possible that others will soon follow.
For a long time, Lidl was known for not having too long queues, as it was able to flexibly respond to customer demand and open more and more checkouts as needed. This was definitely appreciated by many, especially after experiences in Albert, for example, where they were able to leave one or two cash registers, even if there was a long queue.
However, it seems that even Lidl is entering austerity mode. “I was there a week ago and I couldn’t stop being surprised. When I drove up to the cash registers with a full cart, not a single one was open. I expected that they would activate one, but that didn’t happen. They told me to go mark my purchase at the self-service checkout,” describes Mrs. Dominika. “But that was a very bad customer experience, because the whole thing took me at least ten minutes. If they continue like this, I will think twice about where I go shopping.“
Will it be standard?
Lidl seems to have started an experiment where they keep all self-service checkouts closed at certain times and force customers to self-serve at the self-checkouts. At the same time, these used to be often empty, because people don’t like them very much and prefer to go to the classic ones.
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So when things didn’t go well, the store chain tries to push customers to do so in this way. The question is whether this is a suitable solution. Lidl itself admits that it is testing this model, but denies that it would solve its personnel shortage in this way. He also adds that in the case of people with large purchases, standard cash registers should be opened. What the reality is, however, is another matter.
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