Grocery story lines

We apparently hate them even more than we thought.

No one likes slow checkout lines at the grocery store.

However, new research indicates we may hate them even more than some retailers had thought.

“While it’s no surprise that customers don’t want to wait in long lines and have slow checkout processes, the extent to which they care might surprise many retailers,” according to the results of a survey issued Thursday by Forrester Research.

As far as the best and worst parts of grocery shopping, checkout lines ranked “dead last,” according to the national survey of 1,000 shoppers.

Over half of shoppers are willing to “walk away entirely, to avoid a slow checkout,” according to Forrester.

“The risk to retailers goes beyond a one-time loss due to abandonment,” according to the survey.

It turns out that many of us despise slow checkout lines so much that in addition to abandoning a shopping trip, we may stop shopping at a particular store entirely if we have a bad checkout experience, according to the Forrester survey.

“Three-quarters of shoppers do not exclusively shop at any single grocery store, indicating that shoppers will not hesitate to bring their business to a competitor for a better checkout experience,” according to Forrester.

The study showed that “70% of shoppers have abandoned shopping trips.” The top reason for abandoning those trips to the store?

“Long lines are the most common reason for trip abandonment,” according to the survey.

Long lines and a poor checkout experience ranked No. 3 behind location and then price as reasons shoppers would take their business elsewhere.

“Our survey respondents rated checkout experience as more important than factors like customer service, frequency of sales and store layout,” according to the study.

(Full disclosure: The study was commissioned by Digimarc, a Beaverton, Oregon, technology company. Among the products and services Digimarc offers are systems to make store checkout faster.)

“Retailers that prioritize checkout efficiency aren’t only positioned to satisfy customers, but also to attract new shoppers who aren’t willing to wait in long lines,” according to the survey.

Meanwhile, the convenience of online grocery shopping continues to cut into the in-store shopping experience, Forrester said.

“To compete with the speed and convenience of online shopping, retailers must make the in-store experience better,” according to Forrester.

Forrester is forecasting that online grocery shopping will nearly double to $334 billion in 2022 from $185 billion in 2018.

“Life isn’t slowing down for shoppers,” according to the survey. “They are often stopping by the grocery store to grab a quick ready-made option for dinner, and a slow checkout experience can have a big impact on their night.”