The NetTech Corner

What’s Happening at the Cash Wrap?
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All joking aside, it’s too bad we haven’t followed the Europeans in taking advantage of this technology. It has many uses for a retailer at POS. It can be used as a very secure gift certificate. As well, it can be set up to handle promotional programs, such as tracking recently purchased items to aid in suggestive selling. The card can be used for secure transactions. Imbedded in the chip can be your fingerprint data. So when you use a check, a biometric device that reads you fingerprint can validate it against the data stored on the card to show that you are in fact you. This is being tested at some airports these days.

The Internet at the cash wrap supports a lot of POS processes. You can use the connection to search for an item that is out of stock, you can use the connection for a gift registry, you can even use it to provide secure credit authorization and much more.

You don’t have an item in stock. Bring up the same web interface you have for customers to shop on-line and place an order for the customer. This ensures you make the sell and you get a better discount rate on the charge transaction because the customer signs the receipt and lets you swipe the card. Here you are using one application for two business processes. And if your sales associates have problems with the user interface maybe your customers do too. We will see much more use of the Internet with the advent of Web Services, using technologies like XML and SOAP, over the next few years

Let me take you through a new setup at Kmart. Kmart has implemented a self-serve checkout counter for customers with a small number of items to be purchased. The setup I recently observed had four POS stations without employees. There was a central employee station to handle cash payments, and I imagine to keep an eye on things.

When I went through the process a few weeks ago, there was no employee at the stand, but there was an abundance of security cameras in the area.

I walked up to the cash wrap, scanned my items, swiped my card, bagged the goods, grabbed my receipt and off I went. The catch is that when you get to the doorway to leave they do a detailed Costco on you. That is, they review the sales slip against the items in the bag. Unlike at Costco, this person was checking each line item on the receipt. This process provides security to stop those few that would just put the merchandise into a bag and walk out without paying for the goods and those additional customers that didn’t scan all of their purchases.

Personally, I’m not crazy about this employee free zone at retailers. What if I had an item that didn’t have a bar code on it? What if the price that comes on the screen is different from that on the display? I didn’t get to ask these questions, but they are difficult to deal with when a clerk is ringing you up, so just imagine a line of people behind you waiting for you to resolve your own problem.

I will return to that store around Christmas and see how they do with large crowds. I can’t imagine that they will hold up shoppers at the door for lengths of time checking items.

The cash wrap is the focal point of in-store activity for your employees and customers. Making sure that the right technology is implemented is a major part of having a successful retail operation.

The NetTech Group is always exploring opportunities for retailers to benefit from new technology such as uses for the Internet at POS. Give us a call at 650.871.7209 or contact us to discuss new technology further.