Today, many shops offer self-service via self-scanning, self-checkout or their own apps. Most often, self-service is a complement to manned checkouts. According to a study by HUI Research, commissioned by GetSwish, self-service commerce grew by 10 per cent in 2023.

Another form of self-service is unmanned shops, which have also become more common. According to a report from the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth, the number of unmanned shops increased from just under 100 to 205 between 2021 and 2023. However, the share of unmanned stores is still a small proportion of all stores, just under 4 per cent.

For traders, there can be several advantages to self-service. According to GetSwish's report, self-service can lead to more purchases at higher amounts on average and better data collection for the merchant. In addition, just over half of consumers preferred to pay at a self-checkout station or self-scanning till when shopping in a grocery store. Unmanned stores can increase the accessibility of groceries, for example by being located in sparsely populated areas where there is no profitability for a manned store.

As currently designed, unmanned self-service shops assume that consumers have access to and master digital payment methods. In addition, access to unmanned shops often requires a BankID. Reducing manned checkouts in favour of self-service could reduce the ability of some groups to pay for essential goods and services.