The Dutch chain Jumbo is betting on “slow checkouts” in some stores, an initiative for those who are not in a hurry and prefer to be served with time and lots of conversation.
The Jumbo supermarket chain is committed to more “slow boxes”. With the aging population of the Netherlands, this is a box where there is no rush and which has an operator willing to talk, in an attempt to combat loneliness.
The concept in Dutch kletskassa, can be translated by box to chat. Jumbo explains to El País that it all started in 2019 and, at the moment, there are already 123 branches that have this type of boxes in the country and three more in Belgium.
But, given the success of the initiative, the supermarket chain’s ambition is to increase the total number of checkouts to 200. The company acknowledges that the gesture may be small, but sees it as something “valuable in a world marked by digitization and the speed”. .
At first glance, this box is the same as the others: the only difference is that it is marked as a chat box, to avoid inconvenience among customers in a hurry. For El País, Mariska Bergmans, spokesperson for Jumbo, contextualizes that “it is a family business and also a chain of stores, which plays an important role in society as a meeting place for many.”
“Our employees know the customers and see them regularly, something that allows us to perceive signs that customers may feel lonely,” continues the spokesman for the Dutch group. “By opening one of these boxes, we can offer a conversation, a moment of personal contact.”
Customer response so far has been positive and, according to this spokeswoman, well received by other customers. Even the employees seem to be satisfied with the shifts in this “slow cashier”. “They like it a lot and the good receptivity is also due to having a clear objective.”
The group has chosen to install these boxes in neighborhoods with a larger population, where loneliness can be more expressive.
Source: Observadora
