Despite warnings of a “major” shoplifting trend, Marks and Spencer has anounced it has decided to intall self-checkouts in a rather unlikley place – in changing rooms.
M&S plans to introduce self checkouts in changing rooms across its 180 clothing stores to expedite the process and make checking out more seamless.
According to the Telegraph newspaper, M&S aims to have this new technology implemented in over 100 stores by early 2028. The retailer’s flagship store, Fosse Park in Leicester, is among the sites where self checkouts are already operational.
Once a broader store revamp is completed, the technology will be rolled out across all its clothing outlets. Sacha Berendji, M&S’s operations director, stated: “We’d like customers to be able to walk straight into the fitting room with no queue, try on what they’ve chosen, then pay there and just walk out.”
He further added that the brand is in the process of adding one self checkout per changing room area – but would add more based on customer demand.
Archie Norman, the supermarket’s chairman, has noted an increase in theft by middle-class customers, attributing it to faulty self checkouts.
Mr Norman claimed M&S gets “very little help from the police” when it comes to shoplifting – and says her believes middle class thieves are mainly to blame.
Mr Norman told LBC’S podcast Money with David Buik and Michael Wilson: “You get the sort of middle class… with the reduction of service you get in a lot of shops, a lot of people go in and think, ‘well this didn’t scan or it’s very difficult to scan these things through and I shop here all the time, it’s not my fault, I’m owed it’.
“So you see with the self-checkouts… just a bit of that creeping in.”
However, Mr Berendji assured that M&S staff would be “hosting” changing rooms to ensure customers paid before leaving. He said: “Shoplifting is a major problem in this country, but there are things that we’re all doing to make sure we can mitigate some of those losses. This is all about choice. If you want to be served by a colleague, that’s absolutely OK and you always can be.
“But if people want to serve themselves, they can do that instead.”
Mr Berendji added: “Where some companies may be scaling back, maybe they feel they need to offer more choice to customers. But we’ve never gone down a full self-checkout route apart from in some railway stations.”
But not all customers are impressed, with some branding it “stupid” and unwise move. Twitter user Peter Ackerley wrote: “Height of madness,” while Vanessa Smith said it was: “Asking for trouble.”
Meanwhile Twitter user Lindsey (@Lulubelle1981) wrote: “I used to work for them, this is not a wise move. The theft is rife as it is, this will only encourage shoplifting. Absolutely stupid.”