Promotion – a keyword that opens both the heart and wallet of the consumer, and a crucial element of a sales strategy tailored to today’s times. In March 2025, the basket of everyday purchases was 6.7% more expensive than a year earlier. This is likely why as many as 60% of Poles consider price the most important factor when shopping for groceries. Self-checkouts, which are now indispensable in modern retail, are not only about the efficient completion of transactions. They are also an excellent tool for communicating with customers: informing them about discounts and personalizing offers. But how can promotional activities be integrated with self-checkouts to strengthen marketing messages and increase sales effectiveness?
Self-checkout – more than just a terminal
Speed, convenience, and no queues are important elements of the shopping experience, but what attracts customers most today is attractive pricing. Once seen merely as a tool to streamline shopping, self-checkouts have now become effective marketing screens where promotions can be displayed, discounts applied, and loyalty programs supported.
The greatest benefits come from integrated solutions, such as the iXpos platform, which combines POS service, promotion management, loyalty, and sales analytics in one environment. In this way, the self-checkout becomes part of an entire ecosystem that not only displays personalized offers but also awards loyalty points in real time, while simultaneously analyzing campaign effectiveness.
Promotions as the foundation of the shopping experience
In response to rising price pressure, 76% of retail executives plan to increase the number of discounts offered this year. It’s no surprise – promotions are not only a way to increase sales volume but also a tool that directly impacts the customer experience, with shoppers increasingly seeking attractive product prices.
Customer satisfaction and brand loyalty are integral elements of the shopping experience, and purchases where customers find a bargain are perceived as the most successful. In today’s reality, where online price comparisons have become the norm, in-store promotions can often determine the choice of store.
Discounts and deals at self-checkouts
What makes a promotion effective? One that is integrated with an intelligent sales platform. Centralized campaign management, made possible by iXpos, works in practice by automatically implementing promotions across self-checkouts, traditional POS systems, and online channels. This ensures that customers receive a consistent offer regardless of their shopping method.
The system can also handle complex scenarios: basket promotions (“buy 3 for the price of 2”), local, seasonal, and dynamic offers (“happy hours”). That’s not all: by analyzing basket contents and loyalty data, iXpos can recommend complementary products in real time, such as pasta sauce or cookies with coffee.
In the case of overlapping promotions, the platform automatically selects the most attractive option from the customer’s perspective while protecting the store’s margin. In this way, the self-checkout acts as an intelligent, personalized shopping advisor: increasing basket value and supporting loyalty.
Win-Win: Benefits for both sides
Integrating promotional campaigns with self-checkouts creates a win-win situation. Customers get efficient service, tailored offers, and real savings. For the store, it means higher basket value, increased sales of promoted products, and effective use of customer data. It is also worth noting that process automation offered by iXpos enables efficient warehouse management and precise analytics, supporting the long-term effectiveness of the entire operation.
Automation, flexibility, personalization – shopping of the future
All indications suggest that self-checkouts will play an increasingly important role in retail. Intelligent algorithms predicting customer needs, integration with mobile payments, and partner offers are the directions in which shopping trends will evolve.
What worries retailers? As many as 48% fear the misuse of promotions by competitors. In this situation, a flexible system that enables quick real-time changes becomes essential. iXpos-SCO versions address this challenge by offering hybrid modes, bi-segmented interfaces (for customers and staff), multilingual options, as well as monitoring and loss-prevention features.
Self-checkouts are becoming a strategic tool for sales, communication, and building customer relationships. In increasingly challenging shopping realities and a world of rising prices, skillful use of their potential may determine the retailer’s success – both today and in the future.
1. retail price index, UCE Research and WSB Merito University, Business.pap.pl.
2. report Polish consumers’ shopping attitudes and behaviors, PwC, 2024.
3 Consumer Products Industry Outlook Report, Deloitte, p. 10/11.
4 Consumer Products Industry Outlook 2025, Deloitte, p. 12.
