50 percent more self-checkouts in Germany since 2023

The number of self-checkout counters in shops in Germany has more than doubled in the past two years, according to figures from the EHI retail research institute.

Germany sees self-checkout surge

You may well have noticed it yourself, the number of self-checkouts in German supermarkets and shops has exploded in recent years. Figures recently published by the EHI retail research institute show that while there were just 16.000 self-checkouts in German shops in 2023, the same figure had grown to 38.650 in 2025.

By comparison, in 2015 there were just 2.150 self-checkouts in German shops, 4.760 by 2019 and 7.240 by 2021. Today, every 18th till of the total 71.000 tills in Germany is not operated by an employee. Over a third of these 71.000 self-checkout tills are found in supermarkets.

According to EHI retail expert Frank Horst, the surge in self-checkouts is largely due to a lack of available staff. “Self-service checkouts aren’t taking away jobs. If the retail sector was able to find enough employees, there wouldn’t be such a big self-checkout boom,” Horst explained.

Speaking to the dpa, Horst said that German retailers that have previously held back on installing self-service checkouts, such as Rossmann, Aldi Süd and Lidl, were now “investing big”. 

24 percent of shoppers still don’t use self-checkouts

A representative YouGov survey carried out between October 29 and 31, 2025, found that shoppers are generally willing to scan their own shopping. 19 percent of people in Germany always use the self-checkout if they can, while 43 percent use it now and then.

How likely shoppers are to scan their own shopping also depends on how much they are buying. Shoppers are more likely to use the self-checkout if they have 10 items or fewer, because the baggage area is small, so otherwise impractical for bigger shops.

But 24 percent of shoppers said they never use the self-checkout, and 13 percent said they have never tried it, but would be willing to give self-scanning a go. Those who are more reluctant said they prefer the staffed checkout because of the social interaction, because they can pay with cash or because it is too much work to scan their own shopping.