[IxDA Discuss] Best Retail Self-Checkout UI and Why

[Fiore, Nina]

My husband and I renovated our house last year and home depot's
self-checkout was a nightmare.  (Though Shaw's super markets in Boston
has a similar one; just as bad.)  No matter what we did, it would go
into a "danger, will robinson"-esque "item removed from bagging area"
loop that we couldn't get out of until an employee came over and hit
some type of "reset" button to stop it.  Using it always made us feel
the way you do when a tag is on your clothes and the store alarm goes
off.  I agree about standing in line for an hour with one item to just
avoid it. :)

Nina
-----Original Message-----
From: discuss-bounces at lists.interactiondesigners.com
[mailto:discuss-bounces at lists.interactiondesigners.com] On Behalf Of
Bill Bulman
Sent: Friday, December 15, 2006 11:11 AM
To: Tom Ollar
Cc: discuss at ixdg.org; discuss at lists.interactiondesigners.com
Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] Best Retail Self-Checkout UI and Why

Tom,

Having looked at several of them for a project about a year ago, we
found that most have serious usability issues and are just rather
cumbersome to use.  The issues come up when the number of products the
user is purchasing becomes more than 3-4 items and if they are
purchasing produce.  Most of the time users dont know if they picked up
an Barlett pear or a Andoj Pear.  How are they supposed to find the
correct number for the produce using screens if the produce sticker isnt
on the fruit?

I think some of the best experiences I saw were Home Depot and Super
Fresh. Having spent time with users on both Home Depot's was pretty
simple and just worked, and Super Fresh had a screen displaying pictures
of commonly purchased produce that allowed users to choose from that
dramatically decreased entry problems.

I still think there really isn't a standard best of breed out there, at
least in what I have seen and experienced.

I'd be interested to see what others think...

-bill


On Dec 15, 2006, at 10:52 AM, Tom Ollar wrote:

> I've tried several of these at the supermarket and Wal-Mart but have 
> yet to be impressed.
>
> Anyone seen one that really rocked?
>
> And if so, what made it good?
>
> Tom Ollar
> Datron, Inc.
>
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Bill Bulman
Partner
Messagefirst, Inc.
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