Why Banks Should Take Inspiration from Whole Foods

Needing to go grocery shopping is much like having to do banking — both tasks don’t usually make it onto a consumer’s “yah, baby” list.

But yesterday, Whole Foods Market helped change that expected grocery line experience of dread to delight for me.

As I approached the under-10-items line with Snappy Sourdough bread and chick peas in hand, fear instantly struck me. The line was unusually long and overwhelmingly daunting. But within 30 seconds, something totally unexpected happened that instantly shifted my emotional state.  A store clerk drew me out of the back of the line, asking me if those were the only items I had. After confirming, she said she’d check me out there and whipped out a device that scanned my goods, swiped my debit card and printed out my receipt. Though the clerk didn’t know the hand-held POS technology specifics — and Whole Foods declined to comment — she did say it was built in-house, and today was the first day testing it out. No matter the details, I’m a fan. The transaction was quick and saved me from lingering.

The new POS, which seems like an almost intermediate step to when digital wallets finally take off, made me think of how banks should take note of the grocer’s strategy and execute something similar in their brick-and-mortar stores. NFC-takeoff be damned: There are ways to improve the transaction experience before digital wallets’ flight. To delight customers, save them from a line.