Retail Systems exhibitors feel the need for speed

We've all been there: the restless shift from foot to foot, the exaggerated sigh and the person in front of us who has 25 items compared to our three. Whether you're at the grocery store, the movie theater or the mall, waiting in line seems to be an inevitable part of life.

 

Merchants have started to understand that a wait in line for consumers means a cut in the bottom line for profits. That is why companies like NCR, IBM, Hand Held Products and Ultimate Technology, among others, touted their line-busting software and hardware during the 2006 Retail Systems expo, held May 21-24 in Chicago.

 

"We are making a tremendous push in terms of self-service," said Brad Tracy, director of industry marketing for NCR. The company's self-checkout system, FastLane, is used at grocery and retail stores nationwide.

 

FastLane was developed in response to consumer demand and has become a deployable approach to self-checkout. At some locations, the technology has reduced customer queues up to 40 percent and has given retailers product gains of up to 20 percent.

 

"We see self-service pervading over every facet of life, over time," Tracy said. "Self-service is pervasive within our economy and daily lives. You use it everyday. Queue-busting makes a lot of sense."

 

Self-service kiosks and POS terminals have integrated into society seemingly overnight — all in the name of customer service and with the idea of line-busting.

 

The longer a customer has to wait in line, the more likely they are to put a product down and leave, said Michael Hawk, retail systems business analyst for IKEA. The Sweden-based furniture retailer averages nearly a million customers per day. "Those kinds of numbers could lead to a potential loss in sales and profits."

 

IKEA installed line-busting software and hardware five years ago in the form of mobile hand-held POS units for employees. The mechanisms are not a part of self-service, but they have been effective.

 

IBM's Self Checkout systems and kiosks give control to the consumer, "and that's what customers like," said Ken Davis of IBM. The products give consumers a sense of independence but don't leave them totally stranded if more help is needed.

 

By using line-busting techniques, retailers "save money on labor because their labor goes down, queues get smaller and sales go up," said Tom Siegler, product director for Hand Held Products.

 

Self-service line-busting technology is not strictly confined to retail use.

 

Ultimate Technology created the hardware solution for Kerasotes Theatres. The KwikUse Kiosk has been placed in theaters to give movie-goers the ability to purchase and print tickets directly or print tickets purchased online. They also launched the UltimaTouch 1850 POS Touch Workstation, designed to act as a turnkey line-busting and info-seeking solution for retailers and consumers.

 

Even though great strides are being made within self-service, Bob Ventresca, director of marketing for software-developer Netkey, said he believes the retail industry is famished for self-service technology. "I spoke with a lot of retailers before the show who said they had hundreds of requests for meetings, but they called me back because I was the only one who had a self-service company."