Airlines reward big users of their services, supermarkets ‘punish’
them. Foodstuffs’ answer is its ‘gold’ Shop ’n Go service, which is
based on Mobico’s handheld scanner POS system...
T
he supermarket industry had a problem.
tomers, those with the biggest trolleys,
by making them wait in long queues.
While this still happens in many supermarkets
up and down the country, Pak ’n Save Wellington
lution. It found one in Mobico’s
self-scan system, which is based on customers
move through the supermarket, rather than waiting
until they are at the check-out.
Although this might appear to be a money-savEgon
Guttke, who oversees the system.
What it is really about is providing the stores’
best customers – those with the biggest baskets –
with the kind of “gold-class service” that big users
of airlines, for example, customarily enjoy.
Only people with long shopping lists tend to
use the service, says Guttke.
“We wanted to provide a better service to our
best customers. If you have a go
ing, you go through a gold check-in, but normally,
in a supermarket, if you have a full trolley you are
treated less well than if you have a small basket and
so can go through an express check-out.”
www.mobico.biz
Wellington, so, back in the late nineties, it installed
tion of what it calls its Shop ’n Go
held scanner at the supermarket’s door and then
scanning their purchases as they proceed around
the stor
eeds the paying process at
the till, as the items have already been stored in the
point-of-sale (POS) system’s server, so the bill can
be called up instantly at the till.
ore waiting; no unpacking and
repacking, and no squished bananas, says Guttke.
lution is really a virtual point of sale
(POS) system able to store transactions ahead of
the customer reaching the check-out, says Guttke.
It uses the wireless network operating throughout
each of the participating stores.
alled up
instantly, he says. Nor is fraud a problem, as there
is a built-in checking mechanism. “We check at
random to start with. If the check proves that I
have been accurate (that is, the customer’s self
totted-up bill is correct) then the likelihood of my
being checked again decreases.”
Scanning mistakes register as beeps, as they
do at the till. However, the human error rate is
very low, with those items that can’t be read by the
handheld simply being placed in a green plastic bag
by the customer, to be scanned later at the check-
CASE
STUDY
> Foodstuffs Wellington
AT A
GLANCE
Business Objective
> To “reward” rather than
“punish” a supermarket
chain’s best ‘big trolley’
customers, by offering them a
gold class retail service.
Solution
We wanted to provide
a better service to our
best customers.
Egon Guttke, CIO
> Shop ‘n Go – a fleet of
MC17 Retail Mobile Computers, tailored to the chain’s
needs, that run wirelessly
on the POS system. System
implemented and maintained
by Mobico.
Business Benefits
Guttke says it’s difficult to gauge precisely the
effect of its self-check service as other marketing
initiatives, such as smart marketing, have to be
taken into account, and this tends to muddy the
overall picture.
“But customers who use self-check grow their
spending with us more than the average consumer,” he says. This is partly because the handhelds
keep a running total for the user, so people aren’t
afraid of over-spending.
They can also be used for price enquiries,
to, for instance, check the price of items in the
freezer, where the prices for different products
aren’t always clear, says Guttke.
The self-check system was originally piloted,
in Wellington, in 1998. It has been so successful that Foodstuffs Wellington is presently on its
third generation of the system, which now features much better handhelds.
The current handhelds are Motorola MC17
Retail Mobile Computers, tailored to Pak ’n Save
customers’ needs, says Mobico’s Allan Moyle,
who is responsible for both the implementation
and maintenance of the systems. He says the
durable terminals now feature much improved
colour screens that display both the prices of
items scanned in, and also come with the controls
that allow users to add or remove items, should
they change their minds.
The price data is then transmitted over a
standards-based wireless network, to be stored as
a pending transaction on the supermarket’s POS,
waiting to be called up when the customer gets to
the check-out, says Moyle.
Auckland-based Mobico provides mobile
TIME-SAVINGS
An unexpected extra benefit for Pak ’n Save
customers has resulted from the time-saving
tweaks they themselves have applied to their use
of the system. Mobico’s general manager, Aldas
Palubinskas, says customers who use the service
have told him they have shaved about 30 minutes
off each ‘large shop’, by bringing their own bags
and boxes so they can pre-select products, separating them into heavy items, cleaning products
and chilled goods, for example.
And, because they’ve already been scanned
into the trolley, they can then be quickly moved
straight in to the car-boot, which saves yet more
time at home, as everything is already organised
for a quick stow into fridge, freezer or pantry.
Being in control this way, and reducing the
double-handling, also has the benefit of keeping
fragile fresh goods in better condition. “This is
great for time-poor working parents and busy
professionals,” says Palubinskas. “It’s also very
green, as it cuts down on plastic bag use considerably.”
FOURTEEN SUPERMARKETS
The Shop ’n Go system is in all 14 Pak ’n
Save supermarkets across Foodstuffs Wellington,
which actually covers the lower North Island,
from Hawkes Bay to Ohakune to New Plymouth
and, of course, Wellington itself.
Foodstuffs is a wholly Kiwi-owned group of
co-operatives that dates back to 1922. One of the
country’s biggest grocery distributors, it employs
30,000 staff. It is divided into three separate cooperatives that service the Wellington Region,
Auckland and the South Island respectively. The
company owns the Pak ’n Save, New World and
Four Square grocery stores.
> Helping high value customers save time and effort
> Retain key customers
> Above average spend
through handing control to
the users
> Instant capacity during
peak trading
> Labour-saving benefit
FOR MORE
INFORMATION
> Mobico, www.mobico.biz
Foodstuffs Wellington | Case Study
www.mobico.biz
Foodstuffs Wellington | Case Study
> FOODSTUFFS WELLINGTON
> FOODSTUFFS WELLINGTON
Scan-as-you go means no more
punishment for big spenders
MORE SPENDING
solutions aimed at solving every day business
process problems. It uses a combination of
mobile and wireless technologies to achieve this.
| CASE STUDY
| CASE STUDY
out, says Guttke.
The third-generation iteration of the Pak ’n
Save self-check system features new handhelds,
with a colour display and a more ergonomic
design, adds Guttke. “You could even play video
on them.”