Overview
- EHI counts about 38,650 self-checkout terminals in 2025—more than double since 2023—with roughly every 18th checkout now self-service and two-thirds placed in food retail across more than 10,300 stores.
- Nearly two-thirds of shoppers use the systems at least occasionally (19% always, 43% sometimes), while 24% refuse them, citing a preference for personal service and cash payments.
- EHI’s Frank Horst says shoplifting is more frequent at self-checkout, and industry estimates put 2024 retail losses in Germany at nearly €3 billion.
- Retailers are expanding despite the risks: Lidl aims to equip about half its stores by spring, Aldi Süd and others are scaling up, and some Ikea locations operate without staffed tills.
- A recent flashpoint came in Denmark, where Coop365 manager Fie Sølverblad in Munkebo resigned after persistent scan-theft, even after instituting checks on every second self-checkout transaction.