Self-checkouts: customers enjoy faster shopping experience as Hong Kong’s major retailers look to cash in on automation
But retail union warns new system could affect jobs in long term, even though impact seems small at present
Long queues in Hong Kong’s supermarkets could soon be a thing of the past as the city’s major retailers look to adopt more self-checkout machines, but critics warn that increased automation poses a major threat to workers.
By the end of August, AS Watson Group, the retail unit of Li Ka-shing’s flagship conglomerate CK Hutchison, will have set up self-checkout machines in all 220 health and beauty Watsons stores in Hong Kong.
The machines are currently available in at least 180 Watsons stores as well as more than 80 ParknShop supermarkets, about one-third of the total in Hong Kong.
More self-service cashier counters have also appeared in rival supermarkets, such as Wellcome, as well as home furnishing chain Ikea, both operated by retail giant Dairy Farm. The company did not disclose any figures on the new measure.
I no longer need to queue and it is convenient
Retailers in Hong Kong have been slow on the uptake of self-checkout machines that allow customers to scan the bar codes on products, choose their payment method option and tap their card, completing their transaction in only a few minutes. Aeon, which operates Jusco department stores and supermarkets, was among the few that pioneered the use of such machines, adopting them in 2011.
