"8 out of 10 Customers at Fast Food Restaurants Order via Kiosk"

Lotte Members Lime Survey Results

Eight out of ten Koreans are found to place orders through kiosks at fast food restaurants.

On the 27th, Lotte Members analyzed last year's transaction data from Lotte Group's food and beverage (F&B) stores and found that 80.8% of all orders at fast food outlets were made via kiosks. By age group, the rates were 91.7% for those in their 20s, 85.1% for those in their 30s, 79.2% for those in their 40s, 73.8% for those in their 50s, and 54.4% for those aged 60 and above.

Lotte Members conducted a kiosk usage experience survey targeting 1,333 men and women aged 10 and above nationwide from the 3rd to the 9th of this month through its own research platform Lime (with a sampling error of ±2.7 percentage points at a 95% confidence level). In this survey, 97.8% of all respondents said they had experience ordering via kiosks. Among them, 60.0% expressed satisfaction with using kiosks. Preferred ordering methods were evenly split between kiosk orders (50.0%, 666 people) and face-to-face orders (50.0%, 667 people).

A Lotteria store in Gwanak-gu, Seoul is operating as an unmanned POS-only store.
Photo by Im Chunhan

The reasons for preferring kiosk orders included “not having to worry about staff watching” (33.6%), “faster menu selection and payment time” (24.2%), “shorter waiting time” (19.5%), “the fun of ordering directly” (10.1%), and “concerns about face-to-face ordering due to COVID-19” (6.3%).

Reasons for preferring face-to-face orders were “being able to ask staff questions” (26.7%), “familiarity with the traditional method” (22.2%), “variety of payment methods such as cash, gift certificates, and coupons” (19.9%), “faster menu selection and payment time” (15.6%), and “easier than kiosk ordering” (11.4%).

Order Method Proportion by Age Group at Fast Food Restaurants.
Photo by Lotte Members

36.3% of respondents reported having abandoned an order while using a kiosk. In this category, all age groups except teenagers (24.2%) showed similar response rates: 35.0% for those in their 20s, 37.3% for those in their 30s, 38.7% for those in their 40s, 34.7% for those in their 50s, and 37.0% for those aged 60 and above.

Inconveniences experienced when using kiosks (multiple responses allowed) included “feeling pressured by people waiting behind” (44.9%), “difficulty using cash or gift certificates” (37.3%), “difficulty accumulating or using points” (32.9%), “frequent device errors” (31.0%), “difficulty navigating the menu” (28.6%), “insufficient product or service explanations” (27.8%), “lack of staff nearby to assist” (23.0%), “taking longer than face-to-face ordering” (19.1%), and “difficulty using reusable containers such as tumblers” (12.5%).

A Lotte Members official said, “While unmanned and automated services driven by the increase in contactless consumption are an unstoppable trend, since we are still in a transitional period, companies need to make meticulous efforts to reduce user inconveniences.”