Why the elderly hate ‘unfriendly’ self-service tills

ONE in four elderly shoppers find self-service supermarket checkouts intimidating and unfriendly.

Many also believe the disappearance of real people they can talk to at the till makes shopping a more miserable experience.

The figures come from a survey commissioned by the housing charity Anchor, which warns the rise of the machines is making visiting the High Street more difficult for the elderly.

The survey found almost one in four – 24 per cent – are put off by self-checkout machines which can be difficult to use and bark out instructions.

One in three – 35 per cent – are also unhappy about the prospect of stores bringing in robot assistants to replace staff.

The charity said the fact that there is a growing number of elderly people means stores should be thinking much more about how to encourage them through the door.

Its report, in association with the Centre for Future Studies consultancy, claims stores could make an extra £11.6billion in sales by making the shopping experience better for older consumers.

Charity spokesman Mario Ambrosi said: ‘There was a time when people knew their shopkeepers and could pass the time of day. You can’t do that with a machine.

‘The technology needs to have some human interaction. It’s what gets people into the shops.’

He said there are significant numbers of older people who are not online and depend on going to the shops but who find the experience uncomfortable.

Mr Ambrosi said the automated checkouts make customers feel under pressure if they don’t respond quickly enough to the instructions. He said it can also mean older people ‘have gone shopping without having said “hello” to a single person – and that’s quite a miserable experience’.

The report said that the elderly can feel shut out from shopping.

The chief executive of Anchor, Jane Ashcroft, said: ‘Going shopping is something most of us take for granted and yet many thousands of older people feel excluded from our high streets.

‘This is an issue not to be overlooked as it increases older people’s isolation and loneliness, in turn affecting health and wellbeing.

‘It’s also important for retailers who are missing out on huge amounts of revenue.’