Self-Checkout Killing Impulse Items
An interesting article in eWeek focusing on how the introduction of technology such as self checkout lanes in retail stores actually caused a drop in sales of impulse items such as chewing gum and breath mints, chocolate candy, chips and salty snacks, soda and water. The core of the problem is simply the way consumers interact with self-checkout systems. Typically, they have to pay much more attention to choosing a lane and to watching their products and scanning them, thereby leaving almost no time for browsing magazines or otherwise being tempted.