M&S Chairman Blames Self-Service Checkouts for Shoplifting Rise

Archie Norman, chairman of Marks & Spencer, has attributed a rise in shoplifting to self-service checkouts, arguing that the technology's glitches tempt otherwise honest customers to skip scanning items unintentionally.

In an interview published this week, Norman described how the machines disrupt the traditional interaction between shoppers and store staff. He said that when items fail to scan properly at unmanned checkouts, people rationalize bypassing the process. "When normally good, honest people come in and they're buying their shopping and it doesn't scan, and there's nobody manning the checkouts, they're saying 'It's not my fault and I don't have much time so if I can't get my strawberries through, I'll just put them in my basket,'" Norman stated. He emphasized that retailers should improve the user-friendliness of self-service systems rather than revert to fully manned tills, noting that the technology has severed the "human link" essential to retail.

Marks & Spencer has expanded its use of these machines significantly, installing 800 self-service checkouts across its stores in 2023 as part of a cost-saving initiative projected to yield £150 million in efficiencies. The...