Company News • 05.09.2011

Portuguese retailer implements mobile self-scanning

Portugal’s largest food retailer, Sonae, is deploying Wincor Nixdorf’s innovative mobile self-scanning solution TPiSHOP. Following a successful pilot installation the retailer is planning to reach 15 stores installations until end of current year within its food retail store network.

Innovative retailers like Sonae are continuously striving to enhance the customer shopping experience and, at the same time, streamline their business processes to make them more efficient. Mobile self-scanning helps Sonae achieve both objectives: Shoppers are now able to take control of the checkout process by scanning and later paying for products themselves – to save time, keep track of costs as they shop or simply enjoy greater privacy.

The customers identify themselves with a customer loyalty card at the entrance of the store, take a mobile scanning device and scan their goods while they shop. At the checkout purchases no longer need to be taken out of the shopping trolley. With its “Compre & Siga” (Buy & Go) service, the Portuguese retailer has been able to reduce traditional checkout lanes on those stores by approximately 20 percent, relieving sales personnel of routine tasks to provide greater service. It has also been able to increase shopper throughput during crucial peak shopping hours. “With TPiSHOP, we are offering our customers an innovative and faster shopping experience“, said Joao Günther Amaral, Business Development and Innovation Director at Sonae. “We are experiencing a very good acceptance of this new service concept.”

At its supermarkets and hypermarkets, which operates under Continente brand, Sonae provides up to 100 mobile self-scanners, at smaller store formats up to 30 mobile scanning devices to its customers. Furthermore the stores are equipped with PayTower systems from Wincor Nixdorf for cash and non-cash payments. This closes the circle of a convenient, fast and fully self determined shopping trip.

The mobile self-scanning further deepens Wincor Nixdorf’s partnership with Sonae, which has been operating for six years a growing fleet of BEETLE point-of-service (POS) systems, (2,500 units so far).

channels: mobile data capture, mobile terminals, barcode scanner, POS scanners