Article
New self-checkout options
In-person assistance combined with self-service convenience.
August 25, 2008
Grocery self-checkout systems please consumers by providing the ability to manage purchases and control the experience quickly, but some shoppers still prefer cashier-supported systems for scanning, bag packing or taking payment.
Retailers like the systems because they are reliable, cost effective and user friendly — benefits that, for many, outweigh the deployment expense.
New self-checkout systems now combine the best of full- and self-service options.
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Fujitsu U-Scan Genesis
Fujitsu Transaction Solutions recently added cashier support to its Hypermarket U-Scan Genesis Payment Station. The concept joins the payment station with the company's iPAD handheld mobile computer and any standard checkout conveyor belt.
This capability allows customers to unload items from their carts onto the cashier-operated conveyor. The cashier then scans items using an iPAD or an integrated Metrologic scanner/scale, and the items are passed to a collection area for bagging. The customer tenders payment at the payment station. Highlights of the payment station include three levels of security against theft and human error: overhead video cameras, a bagging station with weigh scale, and an attendant.
The move to add a cashier support option was fueled by customer demand.
"This really was a customer-driven solution coming from one of our larger European customers who wanted a large basket solution that could move customers forward faster," said Paul Burel, U-Scan marketing manager for Fujitsu Transaction Solutions. "They already had U-Scan lanes and wanted to find a way to use automation to improve customer service via reducing queues at their staffed registers."
By splitting transactions into two steps — itemization and tendering — customers are pulled forward in the queue 40 percent to 50 percent faster and spend less time waiting in line.
Cashiers can focus exclusively on the customer and their items. The payment process takes place at a separate payment station so there is never an issue with cashier balancing, till counting, or till audits.
"When customers unload their cart onto the belt, they can then move forward to the payment station," Burel said. "Since the customer moves down beyond the end of the belt to begin bagging, the space is free for the next customer. In addition, the customer can tender while the cashier bags the customer's items, overlapping tasks and times to shorten the overall transaction time."
Pan Oston Utopia
Pan Oston has developed the Utopia self-service checkout solution with a cashier-assist option to offer the desired services for all stages of efficient self-checkout implementation.
The Utopia Hybrid Technology Unit is a cashier-assisted checkout system that also transforms into a regular self-checkout option. The unit allows all lanes to be open all the time and offers self-checkout integration into an existing lane configuration. Other highpoints include low capital expenditure, and integration into existing store layout without impacting established merchandising or store decor.
Utopia's features include soft programming, delayed mediation, VPN access and biometric security. It also includes a banknote recycler, which combines the functions of a traditional bill acceptor and dispenser in one device.
NCR FastLane
NCR Corp. has also added a cashier-supported option. FastLane systems combine barcode scanning and cashier assistance. The system also offers a variety of unload and bagging options to accommodate any retail environment including a one, two or three-and-a-half bag station or a take-away belt with collection area.
"An attendant-mode option allows the cashier to scan items, provide intervention immediately for restricted items, and complete the transaction at the self-checkout," said Carrie Smola, FastLane product marketing manager. "This feature can also allow the consumer to tender the transaction after the cashier completes scanning."
Smola says this feature was requested by retailers to help increase their front-end throughput during peak periods and is currently featured as a software option on all current NCR FastLane configurations.
Wincor Nixdorf iCASH
Wincor Nixdorf International has added a cash-and-coin recycling solution called iCASH.
"It can be cashier-facing and assist with transactions with self-service features, or it can be totally customer-facing where the cashier never touches cash, or it can be a combination of both," said Chad Wagner, Wincor Nixdorf director of marketing.
The iCASH 15 is a closed coin recycling system with attended self-service inpayments and outpayments. It features automatic coin handling instead of a cash drawer. The iCASH 10 features automatic note handling at the point of sale, and the iCASH 50 and iCASH 100 are both closed note recycling systems at the point of sale or cash office. With cash recycling, cash that is deposited in a POS system can be made available for dispensing after it has been authenticated by the system. This drastically reduces expenses associated with counting, sorting, and transporting cash, and stores are able to cut the volume of change held in storage.
This reduces waiting times at the checkout, and provides greater customer satisfaction and considerable operational savings.
"With iCASH cash solutions a customer can enter coins and notes without a cashier touching the money," said Mark Vanvoorden, vice president of Wincor Nixdorf USA's retail division. "The cashier doesn't have to go to the back office to count money, but can drop the money into a machine and in seconds will see how much money has been entered into the iCASH machine, which saves a lot of time and frustration."
The system has been deployed in Europe over the last few years and in April 2008 it was officially introduced to the U.S. market.
Not everyone is sure about how this technology is changing the role of the cashier. Vanvoorden pointed out a successful pilot project Wincor has with a large gasoline c-store industry leader — Wincor's Shell convenience stores in Germany — that is using iCASH. Customers can insert coins as part of their transaction and receive coin change directly to them with the cashier handling only the note part of the transaction.
"We have connected each store with a POS system and an iCASH 15 coin recycler and iCASH 50 note recycler," Vanvoorden said. "The customer pays for gasoline and buys some other items, scans the items and is told the amount to pay. The customer enters payment notes into the recycler and is automatically accepted and verified because he is using real money. The cashier creates a higher customer satisfaction by providing better customer service and is also able to sell and promote more, and shrinkage is eliminated to the maximum because everything is driven via the machine."
Fujitsu's Burel offers up a few points about the changing role of the cashier as well.
"There are now so many metrics, reports, write-ups, complex processes and stress in the cashiering job that it's really a pressure cooker of a job," he said. "At the end of the day, they do more than their share of the ‘heavy lifting' in retail. On the other side of the counter, that ‘personal interaction' may be far less valued than it once was."
In recent years, studies have pointed out that customers simply want to get out of the store and, if automation is the faster path, then so be it.
"Cashier friendliness is still a primary customer service metric, but it's not at the top of the list," Burel said. "Speed of checkout and accuracy are interchangeably ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in most studies. Basically, time has literally become a form of currency and customers are telling us that they expect us to be more cognizant and respectful of their time, or they'll shop somewhere else."
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