Why Checkout Still Matters 

Checkout is one of the most visible and vulnerable parts of the shopping journey. When systems go down or lines back up, satisfaction plummets. 

“When a POS system goes down, it’s very painful,” said Adam Jatich, TRG’s Director of Retail & Hospitality Solutions. “Even short outages can translate into massive revenue losses.” 

With this in mind, Jatich says many customer conversations often begin with basic pain points—slow devices, aging terminals or limited self-checkout capacity—but they rarely end there.  

“Once you start solving for checkout, you realize how many other systems it touches,” he said. “from payments to mobility and inventory, even loss detection.” 

Defining "Frictionless" 

Frictionless isn’t just about speed; it’s about making checkout feel invisible. 

“It should feel effortless to the shopper,” Stephens explained. “They should be able to move through the store, pay how they want and leave without thinking about it.” 

That might mean mobile POS tablets in apparel, self-checkout kiosks in grocery or hybrid setups that let customers choose how they engage.  

“The best systems don’t force one path,” Jatich said. “They give flexibility to shoppers while keeping things as simple as possible for associates.” 

Thankfully, the technology is rapidly catching up with the vision. Cloud-based POS platforms, lightning fast WiFi and ever-improvement mobile devices now give retailers the freedom to take the “front” of the store anywhere they want. 

“Just a few years, you really couldn’t run a full POS anywhere you wanted,” said JW Franz, TRG’s Director of Innovation. “Now you can totally untether it. Move from a fixed terminal to mobile checkout or a pop-up kiosk and still pull all the same data in real time.”

Start Small, Scale Fast 

Despite all this potential, most modernization projects don’t begin with a full overhaul. 

“Often projects start out smaller pilots,” Jatich said. “a select group of devices in one region, or a few self-checkout lanes in high-traffic stores. Business wants to see the ROI. They want the proof. Once they see it, we can all start thinking about expansion.” 

Stephens agrees that these early wins matter, both for the customer and their technology partners.  

“Once retailers see how much faster checkout can be, they start asking what else is possible,” she said. “Can we integrate loyalty, connect payments or link to inventory in real time? It opens up a lot of new possibilities.” 

Franz adds that technical foresight is critical as those pilots expand.  

“You don’t want to paint yourself into a corner,” he noted. “Every new kiosk or mobile POS really should be talking to your existing systems—payments, inventory, CRM etc. If you don’t design for it up front, it can become a real headache later.” 

The Connected Future 

True frictionless checkout isn’t just about hardware. It’s about creating completely connected ecosystems. 

“The future is data from every transaction tied directly to inventory, loss detection and customer behavior,” Franz said. “With the right tools—like RFID, Bluetooth and AI—you can start connecting all those dots today.” 

For Jatich, it’s all about working with customer to make sure whatever new technology they adopt is employed in service of a great customer experience.  

“You can never lose sight of what makes customers loyal,” he said. “Improving speed and simplicity are big parts of it, but so is service. The best technology gives employees more time to help customers, and makes everything feel smooth and seamless.” 

Looking Ahead  

The takeaway is clear: frictionless checkout isn’t a trend—it’s the new baseline for a modern retail customer experience. 

Expect to see this theme front and center at big industry events like NRF 2026, where retailers go to look for solutions that combine flexibility, visibility and speed without sacrificing security or service. 

TRG will definitely be there, helping retailers dominate in the race for a truly frictionless checkout experience.