{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,11]],"date-time":"2026-02-11T07:23:15Z","timestamp":1770794595579,"version":"3.50.0"},"reference-count":0,"publisher":"Elsevier BV","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["SSRN Journal"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Self-service technologies (SSTs) that replace regular checkout are widely deployed in grocery retailing to reduce customer frictions and labor needs, yet their impact on consumer purchasing behavior remains unclear. We study a specific type of these SSTs: mobile app 'scan &amp;amp; go' technologies. Mobile app scan &amp;amp; go technologies may lower customer time and effort spent during a shopping trip by eliminating queuing and double handling. However, they also shift scanning effort to customers, which may change attention and shopping patterns. We explore how customers adopt mobile app scan &amp;amp; go technologies in practice, and study the causal effect of adoption on their purchasing behavior. We partner with a European grocery retailer that introduced a mobile app scan &amp;amp; go technology in their physical stores and analyze a large transactional dataset spanning more than 7 million purchases from nearly 60,000 customers. Leveraging the staggered adoption timing and matched non-adopters, we estimate the effect of adoption using difference-in-differences designs with customer and time fixed effects and modern staggered-DiD estimators. We find that adoption increases customers' monthly purchase frequency and total monthly spending, with little change in average basket value. We also find that adoption is not 'all-or-nothing': most adopters use the scan &amp;amp; go technology selectively for particular shopping trips, and about one-third try it once and then discontinue using it. The observed spending and frequency gains are concentrated among customers who use the technology repeatedly. These findings suggest that mobile app scan &amp;amp; go technologies can strengthen customer retention, but only when they reliably reduce customer friction. Retailers should promote mobile app scan &amp;amp; go usage for 'major' grocery trips and design onboarding and in-store support to reduce first-use learning costs - because repeated usage, not mere adoption, is what drives performance benefits.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.2139\/ssrn.6139210","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,11]],"date-time":"2026-02-11T03:31:32Z","timestamp":1770780692000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Reducing Frictions while Shopping In-Store - The Effect of using a Mobile App Scan &amp;amp; Go Technology on Consumer Purchasing Behavior"],"prefix":"10.2139","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2983-0177","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Simone","family":"Balvers","sequence":"first","affiliation":[]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7857-3405","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Pedro","family":"Amorim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7220-0851","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Jan C.","family":"Fransoo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]}],"member":"78","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026]]},"container-title":["SSRN Electronic Journal"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,11]],"date-time":"2026-02-11T03:31:38Z","timestamp":1770780698000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.ssrn.com\/abstract=6139210"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026]]},"references-count":0,"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.2139\/ssrn.6139210","relation":{},"ISSN":["1556-5068"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1556-5068","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026]]}}}