What supermarkets need to understand about learning

For reasons which will be explained later, my weekly grocery shopping now involves going to two different supermarkets. Last week I had bad experiences in both which I put down to a lack of understanding about how people learn. Here’s what happened.

Supermarket One

My local supermarket recently installed self –service checkouts which I had eyed-up a couple of times, but never used. On this particular day, the queues for all the checkouts were snaking down the aisles and I was a bit pressed for time so I thought I’d take my half-full trolley over and give it go. After all, how hard could it be? As I wheeled up to the empty checkout bay, the nice looking lady shop assistant gave me a big smile and made me feel immediately comfortable with my choice to self-serve. So I started swiping my items through the bar code reader and putting them into my recycled shopping bag, which is when my problems started. It would appear that the checkout system expects you to put the items into your bag on the pressure plate so it knows you’ve bagged them before it will allow you to swipe the next item. A big error message appeared on screen and I had to wait for the assistant to come over and enter her PIN code for the message to disappear so I could continue. A little embarrassing, but it was my first time after all. So I continued. As my bag got a little fuller, I needed to move a few things around to accommodate the next item, which seemed to confuse the system again and up flashed another error message. I looked around for the nice assistant who was helping another customer so I waited a few minutes and then managed to attract her attention. We both exchanged smiles and rolled our eyes, tutting about the technology while she fixed up the error so I could get on with serving myself. And so it went on for the next twenty minutes. It appears that self-serve checkouts prefer you to use their shopping bags, swipe slowly, put items straight into the bag one at a time and leave the bag on the plate until both bags are full then you can take them off and start a new bag. Sounds simple, right? I challenge you to try self-serving 30 items without getting one error message! Anyway, by the time I managed to swipe my credit card through and stumble out with my bags, I was 35 minutes down the track (much longer than it would have taken me to stay in the queue and wait for a qualified checkout person!), frustrated, hot, embarrassed and probably not the most favourite customer of the nice shop assistant lady whose fingerprints had been worn off from the number of times she had to enter her PIN code into my checkout screen. The whole experience was awful and I’ve been an IT training & elearning professional for the last 20 years, so I consider myself fairly savvy when it comes to technology!

Supermarket Two

After consuming a whole bag of jelly snakes to calm down after my self-serve experience at Supermarket One, I headed off for my first visit to Supermarket Two. This extra trip came about after a recommendation from a good friend of mine that the everyday items in this store like nappies (which are big on my list at the moment!) are much cheaper than the big chain supermarkets. All families need to save a few bucks where they can, right? So off I went. I grabbed my trolley and whizzed up and down the aisles, gleefully grabbing handfuls of items, excited about how much money I was going to save. Then I got to the checkout. Thankfully, there were just conveyor belts and operators, no scary self-serve machines. I loaded my purchases onto the belt and got to the cash register where I was greeted by a smiling lady. She started swiping my goods through the scanner and I started putting them in my recycled shopping bags. This lady was a champion bar code swiper and soon I had a pile of items on the edge of the checkout. She realised that I was packing groceries into bags and the smile disappeared from her face. “You haven’t been here before, have you?” she asked. “No” I replied. She then went on to inform me (in a much louder voice than was actually necessary) that in this supermarket you just put your items straight back in the trolley and then go to a counter at the back of the store to pack your bags. As I looked up, I noticed other shoppers eyeing me with disdain, murmuring to one another and looking at their watches. I quickly put all my items in the trolley, paid my money and did the walk of shame to the packing counter. How on earth did I get into a situation where, at thirty-ahem years old, I could be embarrassed in a supermarket not once, but twice in one day?! And more importantly, why should I as the customer feel that I am in the wrong because I don’t know how their systems work?

So here it comes, the stuff you’ve been waiting for - what supermarkets need to understand about learning:

1. Assess customer learning needs by asking questions like, "Have you used self-serve before?", "Would you like some help getting started?", "Is this your first time with us?"

2. Never assume prior knowledge. Both supermarkets assumed customers “just know” what to do

3. Learners don’t always want to ask questions. I’m an IT training professional. Do you think I want to ask for help with a self-serve checkout? What I wouldn’t have minded on the screen when I started my transaction was a note to inform me that I needed to swipe slowly and place items in a bag one at a time, or the option to take a first-time tutorial, maybe on a dedicated terminal

4. Provide learning tools and resources to communicate information and accommodate different learning styles. I just mentioned having access to a getting started tutorial, but it doesn’t have to be as complex as that. What about posters asking questions and giving tips around the self-serve checkout area? What about a so-big-you-can’t-miss-it poster on the front door showing how to check out at this supermarket?

5. For new systems, evaluate how customers are adjusting to the change. Have an employee posted at the exit to ask shoppers about their experience and find out what else could have been done to make their visit a pleasant and positive one

This had to be one of the most frustrating and embarrassing shopping trips of my life! Am I alone or do you have any supermarket learning stories to share?!