Is the great UK self-service supermarket revolt actually having an impact?

Great big companies actually acting in line with what their customers want is about as rare as hen’s teeth (generally all you get is a tidal wave of bilge from the PR department) but the great British supermarket revolt against self-service tills appears to be gathering pace.

All the big supermarkets have been trying to introduce self-service, even for large trolley loads. Customers and staff hate it but the demands of margin and tech seemed to be triumphing nonetheless.

Now, however, Asda and Morrisons (both labouring under vast debt piles after PE firm buyouts) are rowing back, following in the footsteps of upscale northern chain Booths. Morrisons new French boss admits the company has gone too far and too fast.

Tesco, too, seems to be opening more service tills, leaving Sainsbury’s under former Boots boss Simon Roberts as the outlier. Sainsbury’s staff are under strict instructions not to man the reduced number of tills until self service is overwhelmed and/or shoppers are threatening to burn the store down. Roberts still maintains shoppers prefer the new system, evidence he inhabits a parallel universe perhaps.

To be fair Sainsbury’s has been increasing its market share but that’s about price not service and a reflection as much as anything of the travails of Asda and Morrisons. In line with other bosses he’s also been bleating about middle class shoplifters but when you have to call over a staff member half a dozen times to verify you’re old enough to enjoy a 25%-off six wine offer anyone could be forgiven for not bothering.

Will Sainsbury’s and some Tesco stores anyway backtrack? In such a case we may actually find that the customer is right.