British high-end supermarket chain Booths announced plans to remove self-checkouts from all but two of their 27 stores, with managing director Nigel Murray telling the BBC that they’ve received negative customer feedback about the technology.

"Our customers have told us this over time, that the self-scan machines that we've got in our stores, they can be slow, they can be unreliable, they're obviously impersonal, “ Murray said.

The move follows a similar decision from U.S. giant Walmart, who started removing self-checkouts from certain stores earlier this year. 

The pivot back to staffed checkouts from international retailers has caused speculation as to whether Australian supermarket giants will follow suit, especially given the increased rate of theft reported in both Coles' and Woolworths' annual reports.

Experts predict Australia is unlikely to remove self-checkouts and more likely to invest in enhancing the technology.