Estonia, EU – Baltic States, Markets and Companies, Retail, Technology

The addition of the compact self-checkouts more than doubles the number of tills that can be made available in-store without any need to reduce the space allocated to merchandise. As just one attendant is able to look after up to ten NCR SelfServ Checkouts, retailers are able to use the same number of staff to manage many more tills or redeploy some staff to help customers on the shop floor.

“People like to shop where they receive products at a great price and a higher level of service. The Rõõmu Department Store’s new self-checkouts are helping deliver those objectives,” commented BC Olev Mäll, Chairman of the Management Board of the Consumer Association of Keila. “They enable many more pay points to be made available and free up staff for more customer focused activities, such as helping them find merchandise or providing advice and consulting on purchasing decisions.”

In a recent poll, 84% of the department store’s customers had tried the new self-checkouts. Of these, an impressive 99% said they would use them again. The retailer is also seeing an uplift in footfall. Mäll continued, “Already, we are seeing the self-checkouts play a role in attracting even more customers to the popular food section of our department store.”

Shoppers are guided through each step of the self-checkout process by visual and verbal prompts in a choice of Estonian, Russian or English, reflecting the mix of nationalities living in the country. A number of innovations are aimed at making the self-checkouts easy to use. NCR’s bioptic bar code scanner generates longer and denser scan lines than competing solutions on the market, enabling it to scan even ‘difficult-to-read’ bar codes consistently.

In addition, NCR’s security scale and weight database checks that each item the shopper places in their bags has been correctly scanned. The attendants are able to view each item being scanned on the self-checkouts on their monitoring station screen and are trained to identify signs that the shopper needs help even if their on-screen or tri-light alerts have not been triggered.

Greg Mann, NCR SelfServ Checkout Solution Specialist for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, commented, “Rõõmu Department Store is a very exciting, innovative retailer. I’m delighted at the immediate popularity of NCR SelfServ Checkout with its customers. The installation is part of Rõõmu Department Store’s continuous investment in improving service levels and checkout choice.”

Rõõmu Department Store is owned by The Consumer Association of Keila, the biggest retailer in Estonia’s western Harju County. The association includes 13 stores and employs 322 people.