Morrisons specs up UK lab store
By Retail Technology | Wednesday January 15 2014
New software platform and self-checkout systems aim to refine the supermarket’s customer experience, improving shopping experience and operational efficiency
Morrisons has deployed software, self-checkout and scanner systems from technology provider NCR throughout a new lab store in Preston, UK.
The new software and hardware implementations are designed to improve the Morrisons omnichannel shopping experience for its customers and introduce new ways that customers can browse, select and purchase items.
Morrison’s chose NCR’s Retalix 10 software suite to drive its omnichannel approach, improving customer engagement and providing a flexible, agile platform for Morrisons to roll out new promotions, channels and retail strategies.
The supermarket has also deployed NCR SelfServ Checkout with the RealScan 78 Hybrid scanner and scale system to further improve customer service and drive operational efficiency. Modified NCR SelfServ Checkout solutions are also being deployed as kiosk order-points for customers to pre-order food and beverages for collection at the instore restaurant.
Preparing for ‘always-on, mobile’ shoppers
“Tech-savvy consumers are directly influencing the way that we interact with them, so we must respond accordingly,” said Adrian Stanbury, interim chief information officer (CIO) at Morrisons. “The instore experience remains important, but increasingly important is matching the variety of consumer engagement tools with the growing, always-on mobile population. To achieve this we required a proven technology partner with a hardware enabled, software-driven offering that could quickly and effectively implement appropriate solutions.”
NCR said its hardware and software unifies and streamlines deployment and management of instore, mobile commerce and online storefront systems. The systems use the Retalix 10 retail platform, supplying a single code base with a common data and services foundation to assure high operational efficiency. It also provides an enhanced, consistent and personalised shopper experience across all sales channels and customer touchpoints, such as mobile and self checkouts.
Deployed as part of the self-checkout system, NCR claims its RealScan 78 as the world’s first hybrid imaging and laser bi-optic scanner, which provides a single interaction point to scan 2D barcodes and mobile devices, as well as traditional barcodes on product labels. The hybrid imaging is designed to offer the best of both worlds, delivering the speed of traditional laser scanning coupled with imaging to manage hard to read barcodes, mobile phones and 2D symbols.
