Retail Technology November 2007 Newest operator on the UK cinema scene, Empire Cinemas, is close to completing the point-of-sale technology refresh programme that has seen new PC-based touchscreens from J2 Retail Systems (J2) installed across its 17-venue, 142-screen estate.

Empire Cinemas was created in 2005 and acquired cinemas from the merged businesses of Odeon and UCI, and Cineworld and UGC. These include The Empire, its flagship venue in Leicester Square, from which the new company has taken its name. New EPoS technology has been one of Empire Cinemas' first and most significant investments.

IT director, Julian Timm explained: "Across the sites we acquired, we found four different operating systems. They, in turn, were supported by four different organisations. This was a real management challenge. It was clear that we needed to consolidate our technology and support to just one supplier, in order to rationalise business processes and reduce ongoing support costs."

J2's response to Empire's invitation to tender was found to be the most competitive. Timm commented: "While most vendors would provide only a 12-month equipment warranty, J2's trademark warranty extends to three years."

Empire Cinemas opted for J2's latest model, the 560. Based on notebook technology, the 560 is fanless, with or without disk drive. As a thin client machine, it has no moving parts and delivers exceptional reliability.

Equipping their 560s with 15" screens, Empire found this to be a marked improvement over the smaller screens previously installed. J2 was also able to introduce a great deal of flexibility in terms of how and where equipment could be located. The 560s are counter-mounted for box office use and placed on stands for combined ticket and concession sales. This enables screens to be swivelled around to face cinemagoers, to look at seating plans.

A J2 560 is also fitted within the self-service kiosk in each cinema lobby. Here, customers can purchase tickets and collect those previously ordered via the Empire web site or telesales operation. In future, concession goods will be available for kiosk ordering and payment.

Empire Cinemas are now in the final stages of rolling out J2 touchscreens to every venue. This marks the achievement of a complete point-of-sale technology refresh. The new system offers ease of use, calls for minimal training and makes staff immediately familiar with day-to-day operations. "Staff were happy using the new system within five minutes," said Timms.

Timm described how consolidation onto a single retail system has been a productive move and has enabled Empire Cinemas to achieve its goals.

"We now have a single piece of equipment as standard across the estate and it is embedded within ticketing booths, concessions and at every point-of-sale. With one range of EPoS and one supplier to deal with for support, we have a solution that's far neater, better and easier to maintain."

Empire can now sell tickets and concession items from a single point of sale. "As a result of being able to purchase their ticket and their popcorn and drinks at the same time, customers noticeably increase their spending," he said.

Support for Chip & PIN processing also came with the new J2 tills. While previously only accepted in the box offices, all Chip & PIN debit and credit cards can now be processed at every point of sale. This has proved to be another factor in encouraging cinemagoers to spend more.

A further benefit is a more efficient use of equipment and more productive use of staff. At quiet times in certain cinemas, it is now practical to close manned box offices and sell tickets via the concession counters.

"Our J2 systems are giving us savings in staff costs and making for a sensible use of our resources. By selecting J2, we have reduced our maintenance overhead, our capital costs and our ongoing cost of ownership," concluded Timm.

Contact

J2 Retail Systems
www.j2retailsystems.com