Scotmid introduces self-checkout instore
By Retail Technology | Wednesday October 30 2013
Community convenience store retailer seeks to increase products availability and move staff onto shopfloor using new customer self-checkout systems
Scotmid is improving customer service and experience of its brand by deploying SelfServ Checkout systems from NCR Corporation at its convenience stores.
The self-service electronic point-of-sale (EPoS) deployment seeks to increase the instore availability of products and improve customer service, with Scotmid staff moving from behind the checkout into the store to replenish stock quickly and help customers. Scotmid expects this strategy will have a positive impact on profits, as well as improving customer satisfaction.
Supporting premium brand stores
Scotmid, a convenience store chain with 200 branches, also expects the deployment of NCR SelfServ Checkout to have a positive impact on its new brand experience. In particular, inside its new premium brand stores, where customers are likely to be early adopters of technology, it is expected they should embrace the concept more readily.
Scotmid is part of the Scotmid Co-operative Society, a retail organisation with outlets across Scotland, Northern Ireland and the North of England with annual revenues of £423 million.
Instore technology differentiator
“As we seek to evolve the Scotmid brand experience for our tech-savvy customers and staff, instore technology leadership is a key differentiator,” said Stewart Ross, IT projects manager at Scotmid.
“We believe that technology, such as NCR SelfServ Checkout, improves the effectiveness and profitability of our business as we seek to grow into new markets, such as premium convenience stories. We chose to work with NCR as it has both the long-term retail market experience and innovation in self-checkout technology required to help us achieve our goals.”
NCR added that its SelfServ Checkout systems enhance the Scotmid shopping experience, reducing queue waiting times by up to 40%. It also allows retail employees to be redeployed from front-end checkout duties to valuable in-aisle functions that ultimately increase customer service and retailers’ overall revenue.
