12 minute read
Self-serve checkouts Fionnuala Carolan speaks to
by Mediateam
Why now could be a good time to invest in self-serve checkouts
W i t h t h e r i s e o f i n f l a t i o n , m a n y p e o p l e w o u l d f e e l n e r v o u s a b o u t i n v e s t i n g i n n e w e q u i p m e n t o r t e c h n o l o g y . D e s p i t e t h i s , D e r e k M o r a n d e c i d e d t h a t i t w a s t h e r i g h t t i m e f o r h i m t o i n v e s t i n n e w t e c h n o l o g y i n h i s E u r o s p a r s t o r e i n D r o g h e d a . H e s p o k e t o F i o n n u a l a C a r o l a n a b o u t t h e d e c i s i o n t o p u r c h a s e s e l f - s e r v e t i l l s a t t h i s t i m e
Any investment in a business takes careful consideration and when times are tough many people decide to shelve any notions of spending, choosing instead to put the head down and wait until the tide turns.
According to Vincent Jennings, chief executive of the CSNA, the cost and availability of labour and meeting the challenges of high energy bills are very real problems that require businesses to seriously consider making investments to protect their futures.
“Now might be a good time to assess, and in some cases, reassess, making investments in products of a technological and environmentally friendly nature,” he says.
“The energy crisis is seeing retailers paying literally twice the price per unit, coupled with the prospect of steep labour cost increases with the introduction of statutory sick pay, and the annual increases in National Minimum Wage rates.
“All employers will be facing the prospect of paying a Living Wage in addition to making a 6% pension contribution to their employees’ auto enrolment pension fund.”
The important information prospective purchasers of equipment wish to know is how quickly will they get payback? These periods of time reduce significantly when we experience massive energy cost increases and the prospect of substantial labour cost rises.
“Now might be a good time to assess, and in some cases, reassess, making investments in products of a technological and environmentally friendly nature,” says CSNA CEO Vincent Jennings “One of the most surprising things to me was that older people were using self-serve tills. I thought they might be reluctant but not so,” says retailer Derek Moran
Eurospar Drogheda
Derek Moran of Eurospar Drogheda undertook a revamp in 2019. He says he “blew the budget” with the revamp and that the money wasn’t there to do any more despite wanting to trial self-serve tills. “I had them pencilled in mentally,” he says “but I just didn’t have the money.”
He admits to being one of the lucky ones during Covid as his store performed very strongly and it gave him a bit of cash flow and confidence to spend again. He decided that this was the time to invest in the self-serve tills. The quote that he had received pre-Covid had come down and now the cost for two selfserve tills was €55k.
He had originally calculated that it would take 5.5 years to pay back the investment but now he feels it will pay for itself within three years, working this out by calculating the amount of people using the tills versus the cost of the equipment and hours saved. It was estimated that 20% of people would use the self-serve checkout but in fact it has risen to over 30% already.
“To make it pay you need it to be over 20%,” he explains. “One of the most surprising things to me was that older people were using them. I thought they might be reluctant but not so. I suppose the multiples have led the way with this technology and people are used to it now.”
Reasons for investing
He felt like this was a way to manage in times of being short staffed. “It’s not about replacing staff,” he assures, “but about having extra capacity when needed.”
What he likes most about them is that it improves customer service in the store. “It frees up staff for more interaction and chat with those who want that experience and the person in a rush can use the self-serve checkout rather than standing in line and getting annoyed,” he explains.
Issues
Moran worked with CBE for installation and they carried out a pre-site survey to see what would work best and then conducted staff training on the tills.
The tills are very user-friendly according to Moran and they have only experienced very minor glitches which are easily fixed. “The odd time confusion can occur for non-bar coded items for customers but there is a RAP (remote attendant program) station that enables the self-checkout attendant to support all activity from one location and keeps an eye
on what is going through the self-serve tills. If there are any issues they can rectify them quickly,” he explains.
Moran encouraged staff to show customers how to use the tills for first few weeks so now they don’t require a dedicated member of staff to man them.
Another retailer advocating the use of selfserve tills is Steven Nally of Nally’s SuperValu Group who also bought these tills from CBE. “We have installed the self-checkouts in our five stores and we wouldn’t be without them… The mixture of self-service and manned checkouts meets everyone’s needs and the recent trend of people buying smaller amounts make the self-service unit a musthave. Also the units have yet to ring in sick on a Sunday morning!” he wrote in a testimonial on the CBE website.
Staff concerns
Obviously with technology like this staff can get nervous about their jobs as essentially it is replacing what a human can do. How do you sell this idea to the staff while reassuring them that their jobs are safe? Moran has 46 staff in his store and he wanted them all to be on board with the new technology before it came in.
“We told staff that no one was going to lose their jobs and they haven’t. It has reduced hours slightly. Staff say that it helps them do their job as it frees them up to do other things or help customers on the floor. Customers are delighted to have the extra help too.”
He says he also wanted to let his staff know that new technology could replace some of their repetitive tasks. “It was critical to reassure staff there would be no job losses. Allowing people to ask questions is a very important piece of making the transition a success,” he advises.
Introduction process
Part of the introduction process involved removing two existing tills in order to gently persuade the customer to use the self-service tills.
“Some customers do not want to stand and chat or they do not want to be seen buying certain products so self-service allows them privacy in this respect,” says Moran.
“The tills have proved their weight in gold when staff are out sick and at busy periods like lunch time. It has also shown customers we are serious about good customer care, as it has reduced queues.
“We have saved around 30 hours directly from till cover per week. There is time saved balancing tills every week and the self-serve tills generate extra coins, as customers use the coin facility to get rid of coins so it’s a win/win,” he says.
Moran, who is on the CSNA executive, says he is happy to talk to anyone about his experience of self-serve before they make an investment.
An advantage of self-service tills according to retailer Derek Moran is that they “free up staff for more interaction and chat with those who want that experience”
Benefits of self-serve checkouts
• Provides improved labour efficiencies • Reduces customer queues • Gives substantial payroll and cash office savings • Increases sales at peak times • No human error or shrinkage with cash • Makes maximum use of limited floor space • Recycling coin and note acceptor/ dispenser • Speed of service increases car parking turnaround time n
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