Degree

Master of Business Administration Executive

Faculty / School

School of Business Studies (SBS)

Year of Award

2023

Advisor/Supervisor

Dr. Imran Khan, Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science

Project Type

MBA Executive Research Project

Access Type

Restricted Access

Executive Summary

Check-out lines have always been a hindrance in grocery shopping and can surely encumber the shoppers’ experience. In order to embellish the grocery shopping experience, smart technology needs to be introduced in order to speed-up the check-out process. The purpose of this report is to infer if the introduction of Smart Technologies such as Mobile Self-Check-out system would lead to an improvement in shoppers’ experience. In order to authenticate this inference, the mobile self-check-out application was developed (which is in testing phase right now) and walk-through tests, along with general & physical surveys of shoppers and comprehensive survey with retailers were conducted. Finally, Theoretical framework model was applied where Technology Acceptance model (TAM) was used to check the level of acceptance of technology.

The general customer survey required respondents to rate their current shopping experience. Most of them rated their current experience as either “poor” (36.4%) or “very poor” (17.3%). Interestingly, the majority of the respondents (69.1%) do their grocery shopping on a monthly basis, which substantiates our research as most of them visit Local Modern Trade (LMTs) for their shopping. Most of these shoppers claim that they spend a lot of their time during their check-outs (24.5% have to wait for more than 15 minutes whereas 31.8% claim they have to wait for atleast 10-15 minutes during check-outs) and it is quite imperative to note that 74.5% shoppers have shown their frustrations having to wait in the long check-out lines and the most loathed factor. Further, the physical survey results were also a significant determinant in identifying that there is a dare need for smart technology such as mobile self-check-out system. The respondents were asked to use Mobile-based self-check-out system to draw their opinion as to whether the system was “easy to use” and provided a “seamless check-out experience.” They were asked to identify if this technology would also aid in providing shoppers with a significant degree of “control” over their shopping cart and most importantly save time during check-outs. The majority of the shoppers provided positive feedback about the current technology, its easy-to-use interface & its ability to save time. Some of them also provided their insights about slight improvements in terms of the bar code reader which could be made abit swifter – there were some good suggestions which included installing tablets in the trolley to reduce scanning issues or alternatively there could be smart counters at the check-outs like Mc Donald’s where shoppers could scan as they check-out. Additionally, a vendor survey was carried out wherein we asked management of various LMT stores to provide their insights about the impact and acceptability of implementing smart self-check-out technologies such as RFID-Smart Trolley System and Mobile Self-Check-out System. They were asked to compare the two systems in terms of their benefits and drawbacks of these systems in terms of risk of shoplifting, cost benefit analysis, ease of use, ability to resolve key issues and improve retail experience. They provided valuable insights that mobile-self check-out system could increase risks of shoplifting and would require some additional controls to be emplaced. Similarly, such risks would not be completely eliminated with RFID-based trolleys as most of them still feel “slight risk” would still remain as in the current system. In terms of cost benefit analysis, most retailers feel that mobile-self-check-out system would be much more cost-effective as compared to RFID-based smart Technology. Their ultimate decision of which technology to opt for would completely depend completely on their willingness and intention to make such investments.

Finally, the TAM model was used to determine the level of technology acceptance. Two dependent variables “usefulness” and “ease of use” were used. The dependent variable “usefulness” was compared with the independent variable’s reliability, control, timesaving & enjoyment, and regression analysis was carried out to determine their association or level of influence with each independent variable had on the dependent variable “usefulness”. The results of TAM model were quite impressive, and the dependent factor usefulness had a positive influence on almost all independent variables as the results were all greater than 0.5. Similarly, the dependent variable “ease of use” was compared with the independent variables self-efficacy, technological anxiety, privacy concerns and need for personal interaction where all except for self-efficacy were negative variables. The result came lower than 0.5 which indicate that negative variables do not have a significant influence on “ease of use.” Hence, both results clearly indicate that the self-scanning check-out technology is deemed to be accepted if implemented.

Pages

x, 99

Download

Available for download on Saturday, January 10, 2026

The full text of this document is only accessible to authorized users.

Share

COinS